Less thrills in 'the Apes'
Less thrills in 'the Apes'
By Joko E.H. Anwar
Planet of the Apes, **1/2 out of four stars;
Adventure/Sci-Fi/Action, 120 minutes; Starring Mark Wahlberg,
Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Paul Giamatti, Kris
Kristofferson, Charlton Heston; Directed by Tim Burton;
A 20th Century Fox/The Zanuck Company Production
JAKARTA (JP): Tim Burton's remake of the 1968 international
phenomenon Planet of the Apes is campy, burdened with a lack of
real thrills.
The project, just like any other attempt at remaking a highly
successful classic, which spawned four sequels and two TV series
-- one of which was animated, raised many eyebrows.
However, when the name of the director handling the project
was mentioned, unspoken approval from many film audiences started
to flow.
The iconoclastic filmmaker, who had succeeded in reinventing
and injecting refreshingly new life to Batman and Sleepy Hollow
was believed by many to be capable of delivering something as
good as his previous works.
Plus, Burton has made it clear right from the beginning that
people would have to accept the fact that the new film would be
completely different from the original.
All right, I thought I could handle that. Besides, I could
only recall very little of the original that I watched so long
ago. Thus, I would not dare to compare the new and the old
versions.
It so happened that I watched the film during the Independence
Day celebrations, when the theater played an eerie short film and
the audience were requested to stand up when the national anthem
was played.
The sequences somehow became a perfect opening for watching
the film about the upside-down world where apes rule the planet
and humans are kept in cages.
But the real film starts out flat, lacking Tim Burton's usual
Gothic touch, as it shows an American space station where the
crew are training chimpanzees to do space exploration before
sending humans to do the real job.
Mark Wahlberg plays Leo Davidson, one of the astronauts at the
space station who is involved in the training and can do nothing
when his unready genetically enhanced chimp is sent out in a
spacecraft to take pictures of some disturbance in space.
When the chimp is declared missing, Davidson jumps into the
spacecraft himself to investigate. The disturbance somehow time-
warps the spacecraft, sending it to a planet where talking apes
enslave humans.
Before, Tim Burton's highly distinctive style gave him
problems when he tried to make the totally campy film Mars
Attack!. And he's got the same problem here.
Before long, the audiences will find the film undecided as to
whether it's going for camp or serious. They will also find it
hard to suspend their disbelief about some elements which should
not be considered as flaws when they exist in campy movies.
None of the apes, for instance, seem bright enough to make us
believe they can have control over humans. All they can do is
outrun horses and do the long jump.
Anyway, Leo gets himself caught by a human trader named Limbo
(Paul Giamatti) and is then taken to the Ape City full of caves
and tree houses.
Leo shares a cage with Karubi (Kris Kristofferson) and his
beautiful daughter, Daena (Estella Warren).
When he thinks that his life is already doomed on the ape
planet, a liberal-minded lady ape named Ari (Helena Bonham
Carter) shows up to confront the human trader.
On the way, Leo gets to know Ari more, and Daena, who gets
jealous of the two's closeness.
The problem between Leo and his freedom comes from General
Thade (Tim Roth), a vicious, scary ape, who hunts him down when
he and his friends runaway from the cage.
In all, the film definitely lacks Burton's Gothic style and
humor. It could have been perfect if Burton put in some kind of
social commentary without being preachy, like he successfully did
in Edward Scissorhands or Ed Wood. Unfortunately, he didn't do so
here.
The second half of the film is somewhat more enjoyable than
the first as the audience will probably have learned the trick
for enjoying it: You don't just have to forget about the
original, you should also forget about the fact that it was
directed by Tim Burton.
This time, we also get to see the apes doing ape-like things,
leaping, running on all fours, not just actors in ape suits and
masks.
The audiences are likely to enjoy the film's excellent facial
prosthetics from Rick Baker.
The great make-up even makes Bonham-Carter look more
interesting as an ape than Warren who is definitely gorgeous but
blank.
But it is also because Bonham-Carter is such a good actress
that even under a heavy mask, she can still make her character
sexy.
Lisa Marie, the director's long-time companion, shows up in
another enjoyably unique role just like she does in many of
Burton's films, the most recent one being the Martian woman who
walks strangely in Mars Attacks!
The twist in the ending is too silly, but somehow appropriate,
since the rest of the film should have been equally as silly.
Then, we would have had a full-scale campy, enjoyable film.