10 Movies Way Better Than They Had Any Right To Be

3. Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

After Tim Burton's spectacularly misjudged 're-imagining' in 2001 had almost served as a death-knell for the classic sci-fi franchise, the announcement of another reboot a decade later was hardly greeted with an outpouring of enthusiasm, especially when the filmmakers cited Batman Begins as a direct influence, a line used by pretty much every Hollywood reboot since 2005.

Little did we know that Rupert Wyatt's opening chapter would serve as the launchpad for what is without a doubt one of the finest trilogies in the history of cinema...

It would be fair to say that audiences were hardly clamouring for a new Planet of the Apes movie, and the unwieldy title did it little favors from a marketing standpoint, but all preconceptions were thrown out of the window when Rise hit theaters and word-of-mouth began to spread.

Bringing back the socio-political subtext that had been an integral part of the original series, Rise of the Planet of the Apes turned out to be an impeccably-directed, stylish and intelligent blockbuster that breathed new life into a franchise that had been on life support, all anchored by Andy Serkis' incredible performance as the revolutionary leader-in-waiting Caesar.