Subject: Review: Planet of the Apes (2001)

From: Shannon Patrick Sullivan <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2001 19:07:21 -0000

PLANET OF THE APES (2001) / **

Directed by Tim Burton. Screenplay by William Broyles Jr, Lawrence Konner,
and Mark D Rosenthal, based on the novel by Pierre Boulle. Starring Mark
Wahlberg, Helena Bonham Carter, Tim Roth. Running time: 121 minutes. Rated
PG for frightening scenes by the MFCB. Reviewed on August 15th, 2001.

By SHANNON PATRICK SULLIVAN

Synopsis: In the near future, astronaut Leo Davidson (Wahlberg) is lost in 
an electrical storm in space, and crash lands on a planet where apes are 
the dominant lifeform. Davidson comes to believe that they key to his 
escape lies in the remote Forbidden Zone. Allying himself with a ragtag 
band of humans, as well as human-friendly ape Ari (Bonham Carter), 
Davidson tries to reach the Forbidden Zone while being pursued by the 
malevolent ape leader Thade (Roth).

Review: Tim Burton is well-known for lending his films a distinct visual 
flair; in concert with a good script, this often produces a genuinely 
memorable moviegoing experience (such as 1999's "Sleepy Hollow"). Sadly, 
Burton's "re-visioning" of "Planet Of The Apes" is long on appearances but 
short on anything else. This is little more than a by-the-numbers action 
flick with an inordinate amount of money thrown at it. "Apes" is wonderful 
to look at; as good as the make-up was in the original, Burton's team has 
done an even more spectacular job in bringing the title creatures to life 
for the modern version. And there is much promise in an exciting early 
scene in which Wahlberg is captured by apes employing tactics that feel 
genuinely simian. But afterward, the picture degenerates into a standard 
chase story; there's even an annoying kid sidekick to complicate matters. 
The revelations which occur in the Forbidden Zone are likely to surprise 
very few, and a literal deus ex machina strains the bounds of coincidence 
much too far. Burton's biggest problem, though, is that he creates few 
characters of interest: Wahlberg is bland and unengaging, the villains are 
stereotypes, the other humans mere ciphers. Even Bonham Carter's unusual 
(and sometimes disconcerting) Ari simply services the plot. A pointless, 
tacked-on twist ending cements the banality of the whole exercise.

Copyright © 2001 Shannon Patrick Sullivan.
Archived at The Popcorn Gallery,
  http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/movies.html

  |     Shannon Patrick Sullivan    |         [email-masked]          |       
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/  Doctor Who: A Brief History of Time (Travel)   go.to/drwho-history  \
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