Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Genre Character of the Week: Caesar

Yesterday I went down to my local library and picked up my latest hold, the 2011 film Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and brought it home to watch with my wife and kids.

First off a really quick review - the movie was fun, engaging and the effects were surprisingly good.

Next, on to our genre character: Caesar.

The movie is basically Caesar's life story, from birth through to a decision which will end up spelling the end of humankind (or at least the end of us as dominant species on Earth), and considering that the movie is being made for a human audience, the special effects folks and especially actor Andy Serkis deliver a character that gets you feeling incredible sympathy and empathy for.

Effectively being raised in a single-parent home, Caesar lives with his "father" and "grandfather" (Played by James Franco and John Lithgow) and through all his years he comes off as an incredibly smart, inquisitive and loving chimp.

The problem comes down in the second act when he is removed from his home and put in a primate care facility with some less-than-great humans. Caesar works to understand his new world, but eventually he starts making some connections that will start a whole new world for ape-kind and pretty much bring and end to humankind.

The movie was really great, the characters engaging and if there were a sequel, I would definitely check it out.

No comments:

Post a Comment