'Captive State' Review

Synopsis: Set in a Chicago neighborhood nearly a decade after an occupation by an extra-terrestrial force, Captive State explores the lives on both sides of the conflict - the collaborators and the dissidents.

Runtime: 109 minutes

MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for sci-fi violence and action, some sexual content, brief language, and drug material)

Who should see it? Fans of apocalyptic sci-fi and alien invasion films. 

Directed by Rupert Wyatt and written by Wyatt and Erica Beeney, Captive State is Wyatt's first sci-fi flick since Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Wyatt successfully revitalized the Apes franchise eight years ago, but his efforts here yield mixed results. The idea behind Captive State is actually quite intriguing as Wyatt and Beeney have a strong premise with plenty of unique sci-fi concepts, but it all becomes muddled in execution mostly due to convoluted storytelling.

Conceptually, Captive State offers an exciting spin on alien invasion stories by setting itself a decade after the first contact. At this point, aliens have already integrated themselves into our society as our "legislators," closely monitoring the citizens of Earth with a Big Brother mentality. The invasion's over, but the human uprising against these alien overlords has just begun. Wyatt is more interested in the ideology behind rebellion than the humans leading it though, so characterization is tenuous at best. However, Wyatt excels at building atmospheric tension (huge credit to Rob Simonsen's score), the visual effects are first-rate, and the alien designs stand apart from what's come before. 

The narrative is where everything unravels. Sequences of events are forced together to paint a broad picture of rebellion, but the supposed protagonist is absent for much of the action, so there's very little connective tissue. A prime example of this occurs maybe thirty minutes into the film. Suddenly, the audience abandons the protagonist for an absurd amount of time to watch a group of mostly unfamiliar rebels enacts a scheme. These characters are painted in broad strokes and introduced very quickly, so as an audience member you're left confused about the subplot's relevance to the overarching story. It makes sense later on, but I couldn't shake off the clunky exchange.  

Light characterization aside, the performances across the board are sufficient. Ashton Sanders and John Goodman are both under-utilized as leads, but provide high-caliber performances when all is said and done. Meanwhile, Jonathan Majors, Vera Farmiga, and Kevin Dunn bode well in the ranks of the supporting cast. It's just a shame these actors weren't provided any substantial material to sink their teeth into because that could have easily elevated my interest in the onscreen affairs. Unfortunately, that was not the case, and I wasn't invested in the story or characters as a result. 

Captive State certainly has some merit as high concept science-fiction, but Rupert Wyatt squanders most of its potential due to unfocused execution and shallow, haphazard storytelling. I wouldn't mind watching Captive State on cable or a streaming service, but I'd advise against volunteering to be a captive audience member in theaters.

Film Assessment: C+

Throwback Thursday Review: 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes'

Sorry for what may seem like a drastic delay on all three of my Planet of the Apes reviews but I wanted to be sure and publish them in the order of Rise, Dawn, and War. Anyways, this week I'm reviewing Rise of the Planet of the Apes and revisiting Dawn of the Planet of the Apes to coincide with this weekend's release of War for the Planet of the Apes. Next week I'll be reviewing Inception as my Throwback Thursday Review and possibly doing a Triple-R over Interstellar to tie in with Nolan's new war film Dunkirk. Reviews you can expect to see for the remainder of the month include a Throwback Thursday Review of Shaun of the Dead in addition to reviews of new releases Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, The Emoji Movie, and Atomic Blonde.

'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' Review

Nominated For: Best Visual Effects.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes follows Gen-Sys scientist Will Rodman as he develops a drug to cure his father's Alzheimer's disease and enhance brain cells. After a mishap with one of the exemplary ape test subjects "Bright Eyes," Rodman's program is put on the back-burner and all the apes are ordered to be put-down. However, a baby chimpanzee is discovered that inherited Bright Eyes' intelligence that is then given to Rodman. Rodman secretly continues his research, raising the competent chimp he's named Caesar in his own home. As Caesar's intellect increases, Caesar starts to question humanity's hierarchy and an ape insurrection begins. 

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is directed by Rupert Wyatt with a screenplay penned by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. Wyatt had a difficult task ahead of him considering he had to essentially reboot and revitalize a franchise that had previously only spiraled downward into obscurity. So rather than actually try and remake the 1968 sci-fi classic (akin to Tim Burton's effort in 2001), Wyatt and his screenwriters chose to take the riskier route and explain how the ape incursion began. Now genre fans aren't too fond of the term "prequel" since it's most often associated with the maligned Star Wars prequel trilogy but Wyatt succeeded in the vein George Lucas was unable to. 

Wyatt balances quiet character-driven scenes with simian spectacle appropriately so you wind up invested in an army of apes overtaking the Golden Gate Bridge. Where Lucas occasionally went adrift in trying to push the CG-envelope forward, Wyatt ensure the ground-breaking visual effects always elevate the material. Thanks to the talented vfx artists at Weta and marvelous motion-capture equipment, Wyatt is able to draw out powerful performances from Andy Serkis and his ape ensemble. The visual effects are a little spotty in some areas where the apes clearly resemble digital avatars but for the most part Ceasar and his band of primates authentically echo actual apes. 

The film may be titled Rise of the Planet of the Apes, but it more accurately represents Andy Serkis' ascension to becoming a household name in the business of acting via motion-capture. Serkis broke new ground in 2002 with his Middle Earth mo-cap portrayal of Gollum before gallivanting around as a twenty-five foot tall gorilla in King Kong (2005), but the character of Caesar may exhibit all the understated elements of Serkis' range via motion-capture. Serkis demonstrates all the characteristics of a chimpanzee but successfully layers an underlying brilliance and emotional resonance on top of the monkey mannerisms. Serkis and Caesar seem almost inseparable in these Planet of the Apes prequels but the ensemble behind him composed of Karin Konoval, Terry Notary, Richard Ridings, Christopher Gordon, Devyn Dalton, and Jay Caputo each offer an inspired take on various primates. 

One of the things I found myself questioning towards the film's finale was how that many apes managed to come from three locations. Once they escape, the ranks rapidly expand unrealistically. I understand Caesar freed apes from the primate facility, local zoo, and the Gen-Sys laboratory but the army seemed vastly over-exaggerated in comparison to the number of apes shown before the escape.

Oddly enough, the apes are so compellingly created though that they're a hair more humanistic than the actual human characters. James Franco serves the story sufficiently, allowing Will Rodman to be an emotional touchstone of the story while Freida Pinto is relegated to looking pretty on the fringes of the script. Pinto is confined to basically being no more than a love interest who also happens to be a veterinarian. John Lithgow on the other-hand brings forth a tragic take on Alzheimer's which is positioned as the dense emotional arc and Lithgow handles the material well. 

Meanwhile, you thought Tom Felton's Draco Malfoy was despicable? Well Felton proves he can drive the cruelty up a notch as a callous chimp handler and Brian Cox, Jamie Harris, Tyler Labine, and David Oyelowo fill the remaining ranks of the human cast worth mentioning. 

In summary, Rise of the Planet of the Apes holds up thanks to fantastic visual effects that both enhanced the sensational storytelling and exceptional acting on display. The script slouches a tad in its depiction of certain human characters and the visual effects is occasionally aged but Rise of the Planet of the Apes is still able to pound its chest proudly as one of the posh, premier prequels.

Film Assessment: B+