[innerSpaceman]

I was vaguely disappointed with Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It was well-made and all, but I think it suffers from Phantom Menace syndrome - that is, two-hours to tell the bare beginnings of the known story, that should have been done in a 20-minute prologue.

Spoiler:

And I guess I'm bugged that, despite what the manipulation of the trailers let me to assume, there's no violent battle or attempted overthrow of society by the apes. Their aims are pretty peaceful, only seeking to escape to sweet nature, and only being violent on the defensive. Bah. Kind of revisionary on the p.c. side, and I'm not really pleased with that. Seems from the ending that man was wiped out by the coincidentally-same lab's virus, and the smart apes just happened to be hanging out in the woods ready to take over when everyone died out. Pfft. Lame. But I suppose the sequels will tell for sure how this series intends the tale to play out ... and maybe by the third film, we'll have the story that's itching to be told. #StarWarsPrequelSyndrome

I did, however, vastly enjoy the mostly-clever Planet of the Apes references peppered throughout the film. And Andy Serkis realizes his best ape performance evar!