Super 8 and Rise of the Apes save the Summer...

Super 8 (J.J Abrams)
The Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Rupert Wyatt)

So, after what can only be described as an underwhelming summer of major studio releases at last we are offered some hope with a pair of movies that trade very much on bygone Hollywood nostalgia.
The lumbering dominance of the superhero movies has been a predictable and tiresome presence at the multiplex and whilst neither Abrams or Wyatt give us anything demonstrably different or original to the standard blockbuster fare, at least they credit the audience with enough intelligence to tolerate some character development, a coherent narrative arc and plain old simple storytelling.

Super 8 takes the 'monster on the loose' set up of Cloverfield and transposes it to suburban America 1979. Much has been made of producer Steven Spielbergs influence on proceedings and indeed the rag-tag band of pre-pubescent renegades at the heart of the film are proto-type Spielberg creations from the same DNA as E.T, as are the world weary but good hearted adults. Crucially Abrams recognises the importance of making the chidren both likeable and believable so that when the narrative veers towards the fantastic your emotional investment in the characters kicks in. In fact whats intriguing about Super 8 is just how unimportant the monster ultimately is. As is often the case in science fiction once the source of the mayhem is identified the film cant really sustain the its momentum and perhaps this is the point at which Super 8 shows its hand. It, like E.T, is not a monster film at all its a film about family, community and friendship. The score incidentally by Michael Giacchino is utterly beautiful, adding a palpable sense of wonder and magic throughout and is reminiscent of John Williams at his best.

Much more suprising to myself was the re-boot of the planet of the Apes franchise. Rupert Wyatts 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' is a prequel to the classic 1970's science fiction film set in present day San Francisco (incidentally a plot idea not a million miles away from one of the many 'apes' sequels) which traces the origin of the hyper intelligent apes and mankinds own role in its own eventual downfall. At this point I must confess something. I was kind of obsessed with the Apes movies as a child and 'Beneath the Planet of the Apes' was one of the pivotal movies of my childhood. Not because its a great film or even because I particularly liked it but because it absolutely terrified me. I literally couldnt sleep for weeks after seeing it to the extent where i actually havnt watched it all the way through since. 'Apes'' aficionados will know that the apocalyptic nuclear subtext of that film and the utterly nihilistic ending make it a unique product of its era, so what does a modern planet of the Apes film offer us?
I was sceptical. Planet of the Apes seemed to be a perfect reflection of a post civil rights America dealing for the first time with the notion of global environmental responsibility and most would argue that 42 years later these issues have been pretty much exhausted on celluloid.

Instead Wyatt falls back on the classic horror narrative of man meddling with science to provide the plot and to his credit manages to create a smart, inventive, exciting and above all entertaining film which is crying out for a sequel. The CGI is excellent throughout and more importantly its not blended with real apes so there is consistency to the movement. There is like Super 8 an emotional core to the story subtly and carefully constructed in the first hour and admirably we are made to feel real empathy with ape 'Caesar' as we see his journey from lab experiment to family pet through eventually to revolutionary. I also felt there was a contemporary relevance with themes of imprisonment, torture and revenge pivotal in the eventual uprising of the primates. In addition to this, suprisingly and I would suggest fairly subversively, we as an audience are shown a clear moral imperative concerning the actions of the angry mob of apes raging against humanity in the climactic Golden Gate bridge riot sequence. Not a subtext you will see in Captain America.

So in summary, a message to the Green Lanterns, the Captain America's and the Norse Gods who have fought for our hearts and minds this summer. Read this and take note. You got taught a lesson by a bunch of kids and a pack of Apes.