That's why you should start with guinea pigs

[nancylebov]

I just saw The Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and I must say, the air-conditioning was very nice.

Actually, that's not quite fair-- the special effects were good. If they'd taken 10% of the thought and 1% of the money that went into the special effects and put them into the writing, it would have been a much better movie. A little better acting would have helped (especially the scientist interacting with Caesar), but I don't think much could have been done with that acting.

Actual sign language would have been nice.

The people were so stupid they don't deserve a planet. I will bow to expert opinion, but I'm pretty sure the security at the big drug company wasn't as good as the security in Jurassic Park.

The only interesting subtlety in the movie was Caesar picking up the fascist metaphor of bundling sticks to indicate strength in numbers. Even then, he's got a pathetic little bunch of sticks that he could have broken easily. In my not particularly humble opinion, the bunch of sticks should have been scaled to his strength. We do get an ape on horseback, which was a nice touch.

I've seen people argue that the humans should have done better against the apes-- probably true, especially considering that the plague hadn't taken hold at that point. On the other hand, the apes should have been picking up the guns and using them, too.

Not that I'm bitter or anything, but I really think the end would have been better if the viewpoint had pulled back to see a globe with the plague markers spread across it. I don't think I should be able to improve blockbuster movies that easily.

Comments

[zenlizard]

Thank you, I'll be sure to give this one a miss. I trust your opinion much more than I trust the opinion of the average newspaper movie critic.

[nancylebov]

I appreciate your trust, but it might make sense to talk about our taste in movies-- it may not overlap as much as you hope.

[tam_nonlinear]

I saw the trailer before Captain America. I don't think the actual movie looks like it would add much to that.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

One of my standard responses to SF movies is "For $100, I'd have fixed your plot for you".

My airconditioning movie of choice this weekend was Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris which was good but not great.

[ann-totusek.livejournal.com]

Did you leave before the end of the credits? I thought they got their point across with the airline trails just fine, and my only thought was that perhaps you missed seeing that.