Studio and Year: 20th Century Fox – 2011
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Feature running time: 105 minutes
Genre: Sci-fi
Disc Format: BD-50
Encoding: AVC (MPEG-4)
Video Aspect: 2.35:1
Resolution: 1080p/24
Audio Format(s): English DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio, Spanish/French Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Starring: James Franco, Frieda Pinto, John Lithgow, Tom Felton, Brian Cox, Andy Serkis
Directed by: Rupert Wyatt
Music by: Patrick Doyle
Written by: Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver
Region Code: A
Blu-ray Disc release Date: December 13, 2011
Film Synopsis (courtesy of imdb):
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes is a revolution; an action-packed epic featuring stunning visual effects and creatures unlike anything ever seen before. At the story’s heart is Caesar (Andy Serkis), a chimpanzee who gains human-like intelligence and emotions from an experimental drug. Raised like a child by the drug’s creator (James Franco), Caesar ultimately finds himself taken from the humans he loves and imprisoned. Seeking justice, Caesar assembles a simian army and escapes — putting man and primate on a collision course that could change the planet forever.
My Take:
At first, I said to myself… “not another prequel”. However, strangely enough, this prequel works and in many ways by starting at the beginning of the ape franchise mythos. It begins with an orphaned baby ape and a chemist that are by difficult multitudes of circumstances come to establish a close relationship based trust and familial bonds. It means this prequel starts at the very VERY beginning of the entire Planet of the Apes franchise. The screenplay is near perfection while the slick production elements and strong performances, by James Franco and Andy Serkis via motion capture enhance the proceedings.
This Blu-ray looks terrific and boasts near-reference-quality video that exhibits high level detail and definitive sharpness that brings out the lifelike textures captured by the camera’s lens. 3D-like perspective has a near infinite appeal that can be visually stimulating. Black level and its entire gradation and image-dynamic-range are amazingly reproduced in various sequences containing a mix of light and dark elements. Detail in uneven light and darkened environments reveal visible shapes and structure in backgrounds.
The lossless DTS-HD MA soundtrack has excellent dynamic range, detail rich clarity and makes ample use of the entire surround platform to drive the film’s elements. The well integrated discrete and ambient sound effects, play an intricate role in the presentation in my theatre room.. The detection of subtle background sounds and spatial dimensionality within my room’s acoustic environment is quite exemplary.
Equipment used for this review:
Anthem MRX-700 Receiver
Grandviewscreen 96” 21:9 matte-white 1.0-gain screen
Monster Cables M2000HD
PSB Century 300i (front and surround speakers)
PSB Image C5 (centre speaker)
PSB Subseries 300 (subwoofer)
Panasonic PT-AE7000U projector
Panasonic BDT-310 blu-ray player
Ultralink Ambiance MKII speaker wires
Viewing room is as per THX and SMPTE recommendation with 45-degree Field of View
Audio: 9/10
Video: 9/10
Storyline: 9/10
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