Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a 2011 American science fiction film directed by Rupert Wyatt. The film stars James Franco and Andy Serkis. It is a reboot of the Planet of the Apes series. It is intended to act as a foundation with its own origin story for a new film series. Its premise is similar to the fourth film in the original series, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972), but it is not a direct remake in that it does not fit into that series' continuity.^[4] It was released in the United States, Canada and India on August 5, 2011

Will Rodman (James Franco) is a San Francisco scientist at pharmaceutical company Gen-Sys who has been trying to develop a cure for Alzheimer's disease by testing a genetically engineered retrovirus on chimpanzees. The virus mutates the chimpanzees, giving them a human level of intelligence. The most successful subject, a female chimpanzee named Bright Eyes (Terry Notary), goes on a rampage because she believes her baby, to whom she secretly gave birth, is threatened; she is killed disrupting a board meeting where Will is presenting the cure. Will's boss Steven Jacobs (David Oyelowo) orders subordinate Robert Franklin (Tyler Labine) to put all the test chimpanzees down; Franklin cannot bring himself to kill the baby chimp and instead gives him to Will. His father names him Caesar (Andy Serkis) and Will raises him in his house. Caesar has inherited his mother's high intelligence and learns and develops quickly. As he outgrows his surroundings and disturbs their neighbor Hunsiker (David Hewlett), Will frequently takes him to the redwood forest at Muir Woods National Monument, but his intelligence begins to sour him to his status as a human "pet."

Three years later, a desperate Will tests a sample of his cure on his father, Charles (John Lithgow), who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. At first, his father improves, but eventually his immune system fights off the virus and his dementia returns. A confused Charles attempts to drive Hunsiker's car and damages it; as he threatens Charles and pushes him to the ground, the onlooking Caesar attacks him. Caesar is forcibly removed from Will's house and held in the San Bruno Primate Sanctuary run by John Landon (Brian Cox), where the apes are treated cruelly by the chief guard, Landon's son Dodge (Tom Felton). Caesar himself is likewise treated poorly by the other apes: In the play exhibit, he is bullied by Rocket (also Terry Notary), the dominant ape at the sanctuary; however, Caesar also meets Maurice (Karin Konoval), a circus orangutan who has learned sign language and can thereby communicate with Caesar. When Dodge brings unauthorized visitors into the facility, one of them gets too close to Caesar's cage and is grabbed by Caesar, who steals a pocket knife and uses it to unlock and escape his cell. Caesar then frees a gorilla kept in solitary confinement named Buck (Richard Ridings); with his grateful assistance, Caesar gains dominance over the other apes.

Meanwhile, Will creates a more powerful form of the virus to resume treating his father, and an excited Jacobs clears its testing on chimpanzees. Results from treating a bonobo named Koba (Christopher Gordon) reveals that it strengthens the intelligence of the apes even further. However, unbeknownst to the scientists, it is fatal to humans: Franklin is exposed to the new virus and begins sneezing blood. Attempting to contact Will at his home, he accidentally sneezes on Hunsiker, and is later discovered dead in his apartment. Will attempts to warn Jacobs against further testing, but when Jacobs refuses, Will quits his job.

After Charles' death, a determined Will bribes the elder Landon into releasing Caesar into his custody; to his shock and dismay, Caesar refuses to leave with him. Later, Caesar escapes from the primate facility on his own and returns to Will's house where he steals canisters of the new virus and releases it throughout the cage area, enhancing the intelligence of all his fellow apes. When Dodge attempts to intervene, Caesar easily beats him down, and shocks both him and the other apes by shouting "No!" As Dodge attempts to escape, Caesar electrocutes him by spraying him with a hose as he holds his stun stick. The liberated apes storm the city and release the remaining apes from Gen-Sys as well as the entire primate population of the San Francisco Zoo.

The apes then force their way past a police blockade of the Golden Gate Bridge, utilizing its thick mist as a visual shield. Jacobs arrives in a helicopter from which a sniper begins gunning down apes, specifically targeting Caesar at Jacobs' behest. Buck sacrifices himself by leaping onto the helicopter,which crashes onto the bridge, killing everyone inside except Jacobs; he begs for help, but his helicopter is pushed down into the bay below by Koba. The apes escape into the redwood forest; Will arrives in a stolen police car and is attacked by Koba, but Caesar stops him. Will warns Caesar that in the forest humans will hunt them down, but that he can protect him if he returns home. Caesar, now capable of speech, gently tells him that "Caesar is home"—with his fellow apes.

In the post-credit sequence, Hunsiker, an airline pilot, arrives at work sneezing blood. The scene zooms onto a filled flight-status display board, then fades into a stylized flight map animated with blooming trajectories throughout the world