Rise of the Planet of the Apes was one of the surprise hits of the summer, grossing $483 million worldwide and earning rave reviews for Andy Serkis’ motion-capture performance as the hyper-intelligent chimp, Caesar. Rise wasn’t the first time somebody tried a high-profile relaunch of the Apes franchise in recent years, however. Back in 2001, Tim Burton spun a straight-up remake of the original Planet of the Apes, starring Mark Wahlberg in the astronaut role made famous by Charlton “Damn Dirty Apes” Heston. It was, as you may recall, not very good. It didn’t really improve on the original, and in its attempts to put a new spin on the movie’s infamous twist ending, it instead wound up being merely nonsensical.
It turns out, critics weren’t the only ones who found Burton’s Planet of the Apes lacking. In an interview with MTV Movies Blog, actor Mark Wahlberg admitted that his Apes movie simply wasn’t very good. When asked if he’d seen Rise yet, Wahlberg said, “I haven't seen it yet, but I heard it was pretty damn good. Well, ours wasn't. It is what it is. Ours wasn't.”
Wahlberg explains further, suggesting that many of the film’s problems stemmed from the studio rushing the production to the finish line: “They didn't have the script right. They had a release date before he had shot a foot of film. They were pushing him and pushing him in the wrong direction. You have got to let Tim do his thing."
Rise of the Planet of the Apes is now available on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download.
