In the trailer for Planet of the Apes, we witness one of the coolest lines of movie history (well I think so anyway). In a raw, terrifying, intimidating and thoroughly chilling voice, evil military monkey and villain of the film, Thade (Tim Roth) roars at the camera "Get me the Spaceman!". From this line alone I was wetting myself in anticipation for Tim Burton's re-imagining of the 1968 classic Planet of the Apes.

The whole movie I waited for that line. I waited for "Get me the spaceman!" And yet the most ferocious phrase they gave me was "Kill them all..." and it was a slight aside. And this pretty much sums up Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes - one major disappointment, and one that leaves the bitterest of aftertastes. Not only did they fail to deliver the line, they failed to produce even the slight tension and breathtaking excitement suggested by the trailer. It failed me, and I felt the whole audience, on a whole range of levels. That being said, it succeeded brilliantly on many others.

And it is here that Planet of the Apes becomes so frighteningly difficult to review. It is so mixed, so flawed and so good in so many ways that a strong opinion is hard to reach on either side of the fence. On one hand there is the superb and show-stopping Helena Bonham Carter fully embodying ape human rights activist Ari. Beneath the layers of make-up and hair we can fully empathise with her character. In many ways she is the Civil-rights activist of the sixties, defying the entrenched Jim Crow living code of Southern USA and through her touching and understated performance the audience feels the deep pathos that came with that era, and subsequently the Planet which we visit.

On this same hand there is the controlled and charismatic performance of Mark Wahlberg. The already much praised make-up work of genius Rick Baker. The apes are stunning to behold, a true spectacle if ever there was one. On this same positive hand we have basically the entire first half of the film, minus one scene of bizarre monkey business in one of the larger ape senator's boudoirs. The first half explores issues in a simple and interesting way, shows great visuals before we get bored, and moves along at a very efficient pace.