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Is Science Fiction Coming Back?

© Lisa Marie Cramer

As I am sure you already know Tim Burton’s “revisitation” (NOT a remake, underlined twenty times) of PLANET OF THE APES opened last weekend and scored $64 million dollars. And yes, I contributed my nine dollars to the cause. What is this “cause” I’m referring to? The hope that sci-fi movies are about to come back in style full force. Yes, despite my love for the dramatic and my disdain for most action movies, I love science fiction.

In the last five years the absence of science fiction films has been staggering. In ’96 and 2000 only one sci-fi made it onto the year’s top ten list. While ’97-’99 had two sci-fi films break the top ten every year. This wouldn’t be so surprising if it wasn’t obvious how well sci-fi can really do. If you look at the U.S. Top 250 box office successes of all time you’ll see that six out of the top ten are science fiction. This summer has seen four science fiction films so far. EVOULTION which deserved to bomb, A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE which deserves several Oscars, JURASSIC PARK III which only sullies my fond memory of the first one, and now PLANET OF THE APES which now ranks third in top grosses for opening weekends.

Mark Wahlberg (Dirk Diggler of BOOGIE NIGHTS) plays the lead Leo Davidson. He is a part of a crew stationed over earth. Looming ahead of the station is an electrical storm his commander forbids him to fly into; an ape is sent in his stead. After the station loses contact with the ape Davidson takes it upon himself to steal a pod and go after him. Davidson is sucked into the storm and travels forward in time. After crashing on a wilderness planet he is captured by ape slave owners along with several other stray humans. In comes Ari (Helena Bonham Carter of FIGHT CLUB and WINGS OF THE DOVE), a senator’s daughter who is against the slavery and subjugation of humans. On the other end of theory on how humans should be treated is the one-dimensional General Thade (Tim Roth, who may falter in this film, but is wonderful in RESERVIOR DOGS and FOUR ROOMS) who mutters two or three times in the film, “Kill them all.” And, for T & A purposes Estella Warren plays a frisky blonde Ape-hater named Daena. Despite the planet’s lack of electrical sockets she owns a curling iron.