I was in the minority with my dislike for Rise of the Planet of the Apes, but I stand by every word I said. However, some new information has come from an interview with director Rupert Wyatt which has left me rather confused, as it seems a large part of my problem with the film was based on a scene that did not actually mean what it appeared to. I railed against the film for its final moments, which was pointless, confusing, and left no real place to go for a sequel except for another remake of the original film, but it seems the scene was… not what it looked like. What was it? I honestly don’t know, but it seems as though humanity is still kicking around in this new Apes universe. In this interview, Wyatt was (obviously) asked about plans for potential sequels, and he laid out some ideas that even I think could be pretty awesome… if they fix that stupid CGI. Hit the jump for more.
[Via Bleeding Cool]Here is what he said:
There’s so much we could do… The ideas I’ve had are all sorts of things, ranging from Full Metal Jacket with apes… you could start this story again eight years from where we left off, the next generation of apes, those that have come from our protagonists, perhaps going in to a conflict with humans and showing real fear, in the same way as going into war for young soldiers in this day and age, telling their story. Or how apes are taking over cities, and being moved into human environments and having to interact with them and deal with things that are part of our culture and understand and evolve through them. Spies that are in the employ of the apes, working against humans and humans maybe existing underground, because that’s a way they can avoid the virus, coming up above ground wearing gas masks, and maybe that’s what dehumanises them.
These ideas are all really interesting, though I am not entirely sure they could pull it off. Full Metal Jacket with apes would be awesome… but the team involved (going by the quality of the first) is not good enough to make that film. If they could do it properly, I would be all for that. That being said, I have two canonical/logical issues with the rest of the ideas (spoilers, obviously):
- Why do the apes turn agressive? Part of the reason they were worth rooting for was because of their general goal of pacifism. Would that entire thematic idea simply disappear for sequels? What is it that will make human audiences sympathize with Apes who are out to massacre humanity?
- How is the virus communicable? Obviously as a gas it can get into everybody, but the plant that created the stuff has been destroyed, and it was only shown to pass from human to human by blood. The apes who were given the 113 gas were around humans who did not get sick, so that rules out ape-to-human transmission (through the air). Where does such a large amount of gas come from that they need to hide underground and wear masks on the surface?
If they want to ignore their canon and just make those movies, that’s fine, because they could be cool. If not, they need to answer those questions. Regardless, this all seems to be sort of iffy at the moment, but Apes did pretty damn well at the box office, so a sequel is highly likely. I am all for that… I just want them to make a good movie this time.
