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Rise of the Planet of the Apes | 2011 | PG-13 | - 1.7.5

The origin story of the "Planet of Apes" trilogy, set in modern day San Francisco: a scientist's (James Franco) experiment with genetic engineering leads apes to develop intelligence and begin a war for supremacy over the human race. Also with Andy Serkis, Freida Pinto, Brian Cox, Tom Felton, John Lithgow and David Oyelowo. Directed by Rupert Wyatt. [1:50]

SEX/NUDITY 1 - On two occasions we see a man and a woman kiss; on one occasion they are lying beside one another on a picnic blanket and an ape watches. A man and a woman are seen holding hands as they walk. A man and a woman are seen fully clothed lying side by side in bed.
 We see a man wearing boxer shorts and a T-shirt.

VIOLENCE/GORE 7 - During an extended altercation between apes and humans we see apes on a bridge attacking cars, smashing the hoods and caving in the roofs, as people run and scream: mounted police officers approach the apes, striking them swiftly with large batons, one chimpanzee is struck on the head and we see it collapse on top of a car, presumably dead, a gorilla attacks a police officer, knocking him off his horse and onto the ground, the gorilla then attacks a second officer, lifting his horse partially into the air and punching it, the officer falls off the horse and the gorilla straddles him, lifts up his head and slams his body onto the ground; a gorilla drags a man out of car, throws him off a bridge and we see his body hit the water, a helicopter opens fire on the apes, they scatter as bullets fly through the air and apes watch as the body of a chimp is flung from the side of a bridge, to its death.
 A young man holds up a shock stick, and it electrifies as a chimp uses a high-pressure hose to spray the young man with a stream of water; we see a small burst of light and the young man falls to the ground, his face is red and covered in singe marks, and he's later confirmed dead when his bloated and partially charred body is discovered.
 A chimp breaks through a glass barrier wall, it leaps onto a table surrounded by men and women, a security guard fires three shots at the chimp, it collapses, and we see a small pool of blood form under its body.
 A chimp comforts a gorilla with multiple gunshot wounds (we see three bloody wounds in the gorilla's chest and blood is coming from the gorilla's mouth and nose); it is implied the gorilla dies in the arms of the chimp.
 An injured man inside helicopter wreckage begs a chimp for help (he has blood on his face and singe marks on his body and face); a second chimp shoves the wreckage from the bridge, sending the helicopter and the man off the bridge to his death.
 A chimp on the ground throws a large chain at two men standing inside a hovering helicopter, one man falls out of the helicopter and into the water below, another man in the helicopter shoots at the chimp, and a gorilla shoves the chimp out of the way and leaps onto the helicopter, landing on top of the man with the gun; the helicopter spins out of control, we see its tail crash into the lines of a bridge and there's a fiery explosion.
 Police officers and soldiers fire guns as ten gorillas, chimps and an orangutan shove a bus toward the men; we hear shrieks from the apes and the camera pans to show wreckage of a violent battle between apes and police officers, including two dead apes and a man's body lying on the ground.
 A chimp leaps onto a man, tackling him to the ground, the chimp punches the man repeatedly, and the man knocks the chimp in the head with a garbage can lid, stunning the chimp momentarily; the man stands up and runs away, the chimp follows him and knocks him off a high porch, shoving him backwards, the man attempts to run away, the chimp leaps onto the man, knocking him to the ground and bites the man's hand (we see blood on the man's hand, the chimp's mouth and later see the man with his finger in a splint).
 A man shoots a chimp with a gun, drags the body back to a van and throws it in the back; a crowd of apes holding metal pipes stare at the man, a chimp rips open the back of the van and pulls out the dead chimp, and the man drives away as the chimps on top of a building throw metal rods into and around the van.
 Apes are seen tearing through buildings, smashing windows and climbing up the sides of buildings. The sounds of humans screaming are heard as a pack of apes run through a crowded office filled with cubicles.
 Two police cars approach a gorilla and an orangutan, the gorilla throws a manhole cover through the windshield of the police car, it swerves, and the orangutan throws a parking meter at the car; one car smashes into another police car and the apes escape unharmed.
 Apes break into a building, they smash glass windows and glass barriers, and open cages releasing contained chimps; they swing from light fixtures, dump over tables and chairs and destroy electronics, and a man runs and shouts as the apes leap down into a courtyard and surround him (he is later seen unharmed).
 A chimp breaks out of her cage, she attacks a man holding a stick snare, she shoves the man to the ground, takes the stick snare and uses it to attack a second man, shoves the second man to the ground, knocks over a table, races through a lab (we hear the screams of humans running to get out of the way), breaks through a glass barrier, and leaps onto a table where two people are sitting; a man tries to use a tranquilizer gun to shoot the chimp, but loses his target.
 A woman screams when she discovers the dead body of a man, with blood on his hands and a large pool of blood coming from his ears. We see a man resting his head on the lap of his elderly father as he sleeps; when the man wakes up it is implied that the older man has died (he appears to be sleeping but we later see the man packing up his belongings).
 A young man with a shock stick shouts at a chimp, he circles as a second man aims a tranquilizer gun at the chimp but does not fire, the young man shocks the chimp three times, the chimp yelps in pain, grabs the young man's arm, yanks him to the ground and drags him away (we see the young man passed out and lying in a hallway).
 A chimp rips the shirt off the back of another chimp, they stand face to face, one walks away as two more chimps circle the first chimp and chase him, the chimp kicks them away and climbs up a tree, one chimp follows up the tree, and one chimp falls off and hits the ground; a young man fires a tranquilizer gun at the attacking chimp, it falls to the ground, and he then shoots at the victim chimp, that also falls to the ground.
 A chimp throws water on the face of another chimp, the chimp walks into an arena and the first chimp smacks the chimp on the side of the head with a gasoline can; the chimp falls to the ground, and the first chimp holds the gasoline can over the other chimp's head, about to strike again but does not.
 We see chimps in the background punching and wrestling with one another as a chimp screams at another chimp. We see a chimp with an injury on its hand (it's not visible) and a young man says that the chimp had been beaten because it was new. A man slaps a young man into a wall, shouting, until another man interrupts them and the man puts the young man down.
 A chimp grabs a man's arm as he reaches into the chimp's cage, the chimp grunts and the man screams in pain, saying that his arm is going to be broken; he pulls away from the chimp, unharmed.
 An older man and his adult son hear a man shouting, they follow the noise and find a man cornering a chimp, and swinging a baseball bat at the chimp as the chimp attempts to climb a fence; we later learn that the chimp had injured its leg and we see a woman stitching up the wound, blood obscured by hair on the chimp's leg.
 A young man uses a shock stick to electrify the metal cages that contain chimps, we hear the chimps screaming and grunting, a man tells the young man to not use the shock stick, and the young man threatens to use the shock stick on the man.
 Many chimps surround a man on a raised platform, they pull him down and circle him, punching him repeatedly until one chimp shouts and the other chimps drop back; we see that the man is unharmed and one of the chimps escorts him into a cage and locks the door.
 A chimp throws soupy food onto the face of a young man, the young man shouts, uses a high-pressure hose to spray the chimp for an extended amount of time and the chimp cowers in fear after the young man stops spraying him.
 A chimp drops from a treetop and tackles a man to the ground; a second chimp dismisses the first chimp and helps the man stand up (he is unharmed). A chimp grabs a young man by the shirt, pulls him close to a cage door, and the young man struggles and pulls away moments later unharmed.
 A gorilla leaps onto a zoo's ape enclave, the fence bends down and the apes escape as we hear people screaming and running away from the charging animals. A young man drags a tranquilized chimp by its head, and loads it onto a cart.
 An older man grabs a woman's arm, we hear her scream and the crash of breaking glass, a man comes to investigate and we see a broken lamp; the older man has a small cut on his palm. A man looks very ill, we see sweat on the chest of his shirt, he coughs on another man and a spray of blood hits the other man's chest and face. We see a man sneeze, and a spray of blood comes from the man's mouth and splatters onto a piece of paper and his hand. A drop of blood is seen hitting the floor, and we see a man raise his hand to his nose to cover the blood.
 An older man climbs into a car, he crashes the car into parked cars, another man shouts at the older man, grabs him and pulls him out of the car and continues to shout at the older man while shoving his finger in his chest.
 Two men strap a chimp to a gurney, we see its arms restrained and a third man joins them, they administer an aerosol drug to the chimp and the chimp reacts violently, its body bucking and pulling a tube from the aerosol machine; the men restrain the chimp further.
 A giant gorilla howls, shows its fangs and growls at a chimp as the chimp opens the gorilla's cage; we see the chimp running around an enclosure rapidly, and leaps out of the gorilla's path. We see a room filled with dirty cages, and various apes climb on the cages and scream, shaking the cage walls and baring their fangs.
 Several people back away from a chimp in fear; the chimp is loaded into the back of a van with a stick snare around its neck and we learn that the chimp has been taken away for attacking a person. A chimp slams its fists repeatedly against a Plexiglas window as it watches a man and a woman.
 A woman fakes as though she is going to jump off a bridge, and she climbs the fence of a bridge as a man grabs her and pulls her down; she assures the man she was not going to jump.
 Police officers and soldiers create a human barrier, they hold up handguns and machine guns, we hear a man on a radio instructing the officers to "shoot to kill" and a man tells a woman that police officers and soldiers are going to "slaughter" apes.
 A man tells another man to put 12 apes "down," and the man responds that he does not want to kill apes that have developed personalities. A man tells another man that he has "put down" 12 apes and is unwilling to kill a baby chimp; the man does not kill the baby chimp.
 A woman tells a man that he is lucky that a chimp was not "put down," implying that the chimp could have been killed after it attacked a man.
 Poachers with machetes chase a chimps through a forest, and the chimps scream and growl, baring their fangs; the chimps are caught in trip snares, are lifted into the air in nets and we see the nets dropped into crates and the chimps are carted away as they scream.
 People inside cars shout as many apes rush across a bridge. A young woman yelps in fear after she looks at an orangutan. A young man shouts at a man. A man shouts at a young man. An older man shouts at a man and young man. A dog barks at a chimp, and the chimp bares its fangs and growls at the dog, which cowers in fear.
 A man tells a chimp that its mother had been at a lab but was no longer there; the chimp uses sign language to ask if its mother is dead, and the man confirms that the chimp's mother is dead. A man warns a chimp that it was in danger of being put down.
 A woman warns a man that it is safe to be afraid of apes. A woman tells a man that he should look for an infection in a cut on an ape's leg. A woman tells a man that a person had died from an infection. We hear a man telling another man that a person had been "out sick" for two days. An older man asks his adult son if a baby chimp is injured, and the man tells him the mark on the baby chimp's chest is a birthmark. A man threatens to have a building shut down if conditions for a chimp are not improved. A man tells his older father that he will have to take a blood sample.
 We see the shocked reaction on men's faces as they watch video footage that is presumably of an chimp electrocuting a young man by spraying him with water; we see a clip of the chimp standing in front of the young man.
 As a chimp is sliding down a roof, almost falls off the edge but catches itself at the last moment. A chimp jumps on the hood of a car; the bumper falls off and the car alarm sounds.
 Throughout the movie we hear people referencing a drug that has been administered to animals, which will regenerate cells in the brain; we see computer animations of brain cells being created and sewn together on screen.
 We hear the cough of a baby chimp and see a small amount of mucus coming from its nostrils. A chimp has a milky eye and a scar on its face and mouth and a man is heard explaining that the chimp had been part of a scientific research study.
 A man administers an injection on his older father; no blood is seen.
 We hear a toilet flush and see a chimp walk out of the bathroom.

LANGUAGE 5 - 1 implied F-word, 9 mild obscenities, name-calling (stupid monkey, dirty chimp, lazy baboon, morons, stupid), exclamations (shut up, for goodness sake), 2 religious profanities, 5 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - A young man opens a bottle of beer and teases a chimp with it, a young man holds a six-pack of beer and offers one to a young woman, we see bottles of beer in a man's refrigerator, and we see an empty wine bottle next to a man and a woman on a picnic blanket.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - The differences between animals and humans, cognitive therapy, finding cures for diseases, animal testing, mothering instincts, nature vs. nurture, disappointment, revenge, animal cruelty, Alzheimer's disease.

MESSAGE - The story behind the rise in intelligence of the apes in the "Planet of the Apes" series is explained as a case of scientific experimentation.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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