Planet of the Apes (2001)

Directed by Tim Burton. Starring Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clarke Duncan, Paul Giamatti, Estella Warren, David Warner, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Kris Kristofferson, Lisa Marie, Erick Avari. [PG-13]

Reimagining of the 1968 science fiction film uses a similar premise—Wahlberg’s astronaut lands on a planet where apes have become the dominant species while hunting, studying and enslaving the human race—but the script is more concerned with battle scenes and revolutionary clichés than analysis of social hierarchy, speciesism, evolutionary law, and other relevant topics. Don’t look for Burton’s usual imaginative visual style or offbeat sensibilities; whatever personal passion he may have had for the material, the finished product has the feel of director-for-hire vision (he even pulls back on the potential kinky kick of a cross-species romance between Wahlberg and sympathetic chimp Bonham Carter). Good production values, special effects, and (especially) makeup and prosthetics from Rick Baker and his team, but the best parts of the story are almost always taken from its predecessor. The filmmakers eschew repeating the original’s famous surprise ending by sticking closer to Pierre Boulle’s source novel, but the confusing reveal leads to more head-scratching questions (and enormous plot holes) than satisfying answers. Among the cast, only Roth as a power-hungry military chimp and Giammati as a slave trader orangutan stand out; the cameo by Charlton Heston is simply a distraction. The sort of movie that earns more than a third of its total domestic box office in its opening weekend because of “strong hype, weak word-of-mouth.”

48/100