thoughts on Rise of the Planet of the Apes (some spoilers)

First, of course, previews: For those curious, I still grin from ear to ear every time I see Michael Vartan, a.k.a. Agent Vaughn from Alias. And he's going to be in a movie! Colombiana, with Zoe Saldana! Yaay! Other memorable previews: Contagion, starring Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow, which I will not be seeing on the grounds that it looks scary; and Real Steel, starring Hugh Jackman, which I inexplicably want to see even though it involves a bunch of robots fighting each other.

Okay, so I thought Rise of the Planet of the Apes was pretty awesome, in spite of the fact that most of the human characters in this movie are either stupid, mean, or a dangerous combination of both. Like, even one of the nicest and smartest among them (James Franco's character, Will), does some pretty dumb crap in this movie, including (but not limited to) testing the new, unapproved Alzheimer's medication he has developed ON HIS OWN FATHER and letting a chimpanzee live with him, in his house, for several years and not getting, until the chimpanzee LITERALLY LEARNS TO TALK AND CAN SPELL IT OUT FOR HIM, that wild animals belong in the wild. Also-- check this out. The company that Will is developing the medication for shuts down the project, which is what leads Will to start testing it on his own father. He eventually tells his boss what he has done, and that while his father eventually stopped responding to the drug and started getting worse very quickly, he has modified the drug and thinks he can make it work. His boss's response? Something along the lines of, "Awesome! Let's get some more apes in here and start testing it, then!" WHAT?! Like, shouldn't Will face some repercussions, legal or otherwise, for giving someone unapproved, illegal drugs? And even if his boss doesn't have a problem with the unsanctioned experiments, shouldn't he at least want to see some data about how this stuff works instead of just taking Will's word for it?

In other words, much of what happens in this movie is completely ridiculous. And yet...I had a good time. It was extremely fast-paced; this movie takes place over the course of several years, and a lot happens, yet it never feels rushed-- there's just never a dull moment. The apes themselves (particularly Caesar, the ape that Will takes home) are pretty sympathetic characters; most of the humans in this movie are, as previously noted, so dumb and/or mean that you kind of want the apes to "win" the movie.

Actually, the theme that keeps coming up over and over throughout this movie is simply that you can't control nature, and you're dumb if you try. This is illustrated in multiple ways throughout the movie, but most clearly and effectively near the end of the movie, when the apes have all gotten incredibly smart from Will's drug and are running wild through the streets of San Francisco; everyone seems to think they can just rein them in like you would a large, violent stampede of humans, while I'm sitting there thinking, "JUST LET THEM GET TO THE REDWOOD FOREST, LET THEM HAVE IT, AND HOPE FOR THE BEST!" Because of what is revealed in the closing credits (which I won't give away, but trust me, just stay in your seat after you think the movie has ended), and because there will almost certainly be a sequel to this movie, we know that the best will likely not happen; however, it's fairly clear that there comes a point when you just need to let things be.

So, bottom line: in spite of the ridiculousness of much of this movie, the filmmakers create a scenario that, if real, actually would be legitimately terrifying. I liked it.