TOO few movies can boast a monkey attacking a helicopter.
Well, it’s actually a giant silverback gorilla, but you get the idea.
And so we return again to the oft-mined “Planet of the Apes” franchise – but in a pretty pleasing way.
This movie could be the prequel to the original Charlton Heston classic, explaining how the banana republic came to be on Earth.
James Franco stars as a young scientist seeking the cure to Alzheimer’s. It’s a mission given added poignancy by his Dad, touchingly played by John Lithgow, suffering from that disease.
The inevitable happens, and the test subject monkeys are given the “smart drug” Alzheimer’s cure. Cue super-intelligent simians, and mayhem ensues.
Chimp leader “Caesar”, the chief banana-bender, assembles a truly extraordinary number of chimps from San Francisco, leading to a climactic battle on the Golden Gate bridge.
And the San Francisco Police Department is taught not to monkey with the monkeys.
It’s a tale well told, well shot, with some clever effects, and a chimp’s-eye view of the world.
Plus, how many movies have a monkey attacking a helicopter?
– Jason Beck
