Tag, You're It: Going Ape on Tag, Mid, and Post Credit Scenes

Spoilers ahead. 

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

It wasn’t difficult to initially underestimate Rupert Wyatt’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011).  Tim Burton’s reboot of the series (2001), now a decade old, left a bad taste in a lot of mouths.  Between the goofy ending and the wooden performances of Mark Wahlberg and Estella Warren, the only redeeming qualities to the film were Helena Bonham Carter and Danny Elfman’s percussive score.  Although Burton’s film was a financial success - it grossed $362 million against a production budget of $100 million - Fox decided against further exploration of one of their many tentpole franchises for years because of the critical backlash against it.  When Rise of the Planet of the Apes was announced for 2011 and a lackluster trailer (The medicine the characters are working on is called “THE CURE!”) hit a mere few weeks before the film’s release, it felt as if Fox was going back to a well of poison for a second time.  Thankfully, however, Rise of the Planet of the Apes benefits from generic manipulation.  A trait which, unlike the prescription enhanced ape of the film, goes unpronounced in Fox’s marketing campaign.