Reddit for Apes — news, analysis, theories, discussion, podcasts and more, including the upcoming Disney era beginning with Wes Ball’s film (2024). Apes will Rise!
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I remember enjoying it more because of his performance. I always liked his acting. Any idea why he didnt appear but in just the one. I feel like it was a mistake personally and gave somewhat list interest because of this
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Honestly I didn't feel he brought much to Rise. He was essentially almost a sidekick to offer exposition about Caesar and John Lithgow, both of whom made Franco pretty forgettable.
Also I think there was a choice to make this about Caesar and not humans.
Obviously it was a choice to make it about caesar but james francos character is important and tge cause if caesar gaining intelligence and ultimately plays a big part in developing the drug that eventually leads to tge simian flu. I just think it warranted a having him appear in another movie. Plus i wasnt a fan of the huge time jumps. Suddenly its about humans and apes. Suddenly everyones mostly dead and its all about apes again. It seems like they didnt know what they wanted out the series. At least with rewatching the originals it was consistent plotwise. Thats where it mostly lost me
What would you have him do? Like how could he have impacted the story further? He was essentially at ground zero for the outbreak, and likely died fairly quickly. Beyond that, his part was done, he’d caused the downfall of humanity and had no way of stopping the spread. The writing was on the wall for him and bringing him back would have drawn out his story without really affecting the main plot. The movies are about the apes, not about the guy who started it all.
This new trillogy is ofcourse about the apes but traditionally the story has always been about the humans and the apes. To answer your question its not just about james francos character but theres a few things. 1) he could have tried to find a cure. He created the drug rhat caused it or it was based off his research so he would have the best chance. 2) id like to think he would have tried to find caesar no matter what they said at the end of the movie. He did have a bond with him
3) setting aside james franco they could have done a direct sequel without the time jump or just started the movie out similiarly to the originals. It really seems like they went from populated city to apes rule the world kinda fast.
They also lack the suspense i got from the original movies. I rewatched them today. The first and its remake. Havent had a chance to see the rest and its been years since i watched them
I understand your point, but that movie would be Rise Part 2. At the time, they didn’t know how many sequels they were gonna get to do, and likely a lot of potential stories to tell, so they decide to make what they feel is the most compelling stories. In this case it meant dropping the modern day setting that had already been shown effectively in Rise, and jumping to a future point where we see the results of the natural progression of the story that had already begun. It’s certainly full of more opportunities to explore new ground rather than retreading the same old story threads and environments. We can assume Franck’s character stayed away as it was the best for Caesar, or he had succumbed to the virus and died like countless others (especially given his proximity to the outbreak), and maybe he did try and solve the problem with a cure, but his science so far has proven somewhat unsuccessful to say the least, and he was likely immobilised with guilt and grief. On top of that, the lab was in disarray, notes likely seized by the CDC or whoever, and half the lab techs dead or unlikely to want to return to the lab. Either way he HAD to fail at curing it or the franchise was dead in the water, and a movie like that would hold little in the way of suspense or drama.
Nah. It's not his story.
And as much as I love Rise, Franco's performance is awkward. He's never been a strong actor imo.
I disagree with franco not being a strong actor. Hes one of my personal favorites. Ive liked him in everything ive seen him in. 11/22/63 for imstance or Oz to nsme a couple. As for it not being his story. Planet of the apes have always had humans and theyve always played a a central part of rhe story. I wasnt saying make it about him though. Just that his character warrantes being in another film. Plus as i mentioned before if you didnt catch the comment im not a fan of the time jumps. The tone of the reboot from rise to dawn was extremely different. One minute the apes are at war with san francisco? Might have the city mixed up the next humanitt is near extinct. Nevwr watched past dawn but the original series usually had a ominous twist. At the end the astronaut foumd out he was on a ruined version of earth. The remake had a similiar twist that was just as ominous. It seems the new series is trying to tell a "epic" story and im just not sure its as good.
He did; he developed the ALZ-112/113 that gave the apes their intelligence and, in turn, led to the downfall of the human race. Can't imagine his role being bigger than that.
I agree. He should have been atleast in the second one.
This sub is all human propaganda. Folks want more humans in an Ape movie WTF ??🤦♂️
I liked him in the first a lot, I thought it was weird that they never even showed him again.
They did in Dawn.
Oh I must’ve forgot, my fault
There were also too many time jumos for me. Like their trying to cover alot of ground in as little mivies as possible. I get that they used rise of the plsnet of the apes for caesars origin story.
No, he was in it enough. The lead humans in the sequels did a better job anyways. The fact that it was centred around the Apes and the humans sort of cycled out with each sequel is what made it special imo.
It may have made it unique. Im not sure if specials the right word. I stopped watching after dawn. Ill probably finish them on streaming at some point once their all out becauase i dont like leaving things unfinished but i dont much care for them personally. Its not james franco thats my main issue. The suspense just isnt there for me
Interesting. I guess you just can’t connect with Caesar. Odd though, he’s like the best character in blockbuster cinema of the last like 15 years. War is the best of the three so you stopped at a bad time!
It was nice to see the reviews get increasingly stronger with each film in that trilogy too.
I connected better with caesar when james franco was in it. I think it worked better in my opinion.just having him in the 2nd movie would be enough. Not saying he had to live throughout the series
Not really. Will served his purpose well in the first film & wasn’t really needed beyond that point
I disagree somewhat. He did servw his purpose but dawn could have benefitted from him
Eh. I think Malcom was a much more interesting character regardless. Caesar & Malcom needing to build trust is part of what makes that movie so engaging. Replacing Malcom with a guy who’s basically Caeser’s FATHER, or even including Will in Malcom’s group makes it all far too easy & uninteresting. The conflict of the film would have to be completely reconceptualized
Franco’s character exists in the other movies in spirit. The way he raised Caesar went with him till his very end. It’s like Obi Wan dying in the first Star Wars but he’s still so important in the other two because he’s Luke’s driving force.
But besides, Franco not being in them might have to do with him as a person and his behavior. While allegations may not have been public till 2018, I wouldn’t doubt if he had issues even during the filming of Rise.
I’m personally more upset about Malcolm not being in the 3rd movie and finding out Woody killed him in the deleted scenes. But even then, the movies are about Caesar. He shouldn’t have to scare his screen time with humans. He’s the star here lol.
Ehh Obi wans death was shown on screen and made sense so i had a easier time accepting that.
Fair enough. Yeah it would’ve been nice to know exactly how Franco’s character died. But, being observant and seeing the red X on the house tells us enough.
Ehh its not just that. Id like ti think he would have tried to find caesar or cure the virus even if he fails. It would be nice to see the aftermath of him living with the decisions he made