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A Few Words About A few words about...™ Rise of the Planet of the Apes -- in 4k UHD Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Robert Harris

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I saw the original Planet of the Apes at a screening at Fox in NY, probably some time in January of 1968, and was blown away by it.

In the almost half a century that followed, we've been inundated by a myriad of Apes productions, on both the large and small screen, and most have been utterly forgettable.

Beneath (1970), Escape (1971), Conquest (1972), and Battle (1973), arrived as did the swallows to Capistrano, and fortunately left us, until home video brought them back.

We escaped the Planet of the Apes for almost three decades, until the Burton version, which arrived in 2001, and which really added little to the original quality concept.

2011 brought us Rupert Wyatt's Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which in hindsight gave us more modern tech wizardry and was at least a quality effort. As Manolhla Dargis of the NY Times, opined, "an amusingly cheerful film about the end of humanity that’s PETA... approved — no animals were harmed in its making, and neither was James Franco's career. [It's] precisely the kind of summer diversion that the studios have such a hard time making now. It’s good, canny-dumb fun. Employing bleeding-edge technologies in the service of old-fashioned entertainment, it insists on the emotional truth of its absurd story, its tongue in cheek (and in check), while offering self-aware asides, like the ritual bow to Charlton Heston, the lockjaw hero of the original 1968 [film]."

One major attribute was the thoughtful performance by Andy Serkis in the role of Caesar, adding humanity to the lead character.

More important, as the digital apes scurry across the Golden Gate Bridge and toward Muir Woods, it set up the groundwork for sequels, which under the guidance of Matt Reeves, has brought us full circle, back to intelligent, high quality entertainment.

Fox has given us both Rise, as well as it's sequel, Dawn, in 4k UHD/HDR as an offering to get us in the Apes mood in advance of War.

While Rise is, for me, at least, it is overshadowed by the superior Dawn. If it's overall existence can be looked upon as the rationale to create Dawn, that's worth it's weight in gold.

Image quality is fine, with rich blacks coming to the fore via HDR, and a quality up-rez. Audio in DTS-HD 5.1 works beautifully, and will clean the lint out of many a speaker.

Image - 5

Audio - 5 (DTS-HD MA 5.1)

Pass / Fail - Pass

Recommended

RAH
 

Angelo Colombus

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Will be waiting when Hollywood combines the King Kong and Planet of the Apes franchises together in one film called King Kong Goes Bananas on Planet of the Apes.....;)
 

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