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Review of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

 

 

DawnPOTA

Directed By: Matt Reeves

Written By: Mark Bomback, Rick Jaffa

Starring: Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes  will be categorized as a summer blockbuster because of its release date, high budget, and extensive use of special effects. However, its story and character first mentality along with its stark wiliness to take chances makes it an almost anti-blockbusters. Now that is not to say it is void of thrilling action or inspired set-pieces. There is plenty of entertainment to be had. It is simply not driving the story and in many ways the least interesting aspect of the entire film. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes  may be a sequel to an already rebooted franchise. That does not mean it cannot be filled with innovative filmmaking that brings notable franchise to new highs.

The story picks up shortly after Rise of the Planet of the Apes’s  conclusion. After the ALZ-113 virus was released it spread causing a worldwide epidemic. Unable to stop the virus humanity begins to crumble dawn of the planet of the apesbit by bit. Governments lose control as panic fills the world. Eventual entering into a never-ending stage of chaos. Finally it appears the experiment that we call humanity has come to an abrupt end.

With the apparent absence of humans the apes that have fled to the Redwood Forest have flourished. They have established an idyllic culture that includes their own language, laws, and leadership structure. These opening sequences are memorizing. It is akin to watching a National Geographic voyeuristic documentary on an early primitive culture. Reserving dialog to subtitles and sign language is a rather bold way to open a genre film, and that boldness is rewarded with one of the most intriguing sequences in the film. Quickly and clearly it establishes that these apes are more than computer enhanced graphics. They are fully fleshed out characters with distinct  and differing personalities.

Clearly the biggest reason these sequences work is because of the masterful special effects done Weta Digital Workshop. They have long been the kings of motion capture with their work on movies like Lord of the Rings and Avatar, but even those films pale in comparison to what they have accomplished here. This is the crescendo of this technology many have been waiting for. When distinguishing between reality and fiction becomes inconsequential. Obviously they are aware of how far they have come as the film opens focused squarely on the eyes of the lead ape Caesar—an aspect of motion capture that has long been criticized. There are no ‘dead eyes’ here, instead they are piercing beacons of emotion that make you feel like you are gazing at the soul of a manufactured creature.

Now this is not just Apes Gone Wild. Humans do play into the story as they stumble upon the ape’s conclave when  looking for a damn they hope to use to bring the lights back on for the remaining human survivors. This begins an apprehensive reliance and rivalry between both the humans and apes. This unnatural alliance does not sit well with members of either side, and apes soon discover that the humans are not their only threat.

Jason Clarke plays one of the leaders of the human survivors. While the majority of the humans fear the apes and want them destroyed, he is fascinated by them and hopes all-out war can be avoided. Most of the humans where rather forgettable, including Gary Oldman whose role was much more limited than many might expect, but Clarke stood out as one of the more realized none-ape characters. His connection to the lead ape Caesar is the apex of this conflict. As they slowly build trust between one another outside forces see to usurp that trust out of fear of the other.

dawn_of_the_planet_of_the_apes_42291

For all intents and purposes this is the ape’s movie—as the title indicates it is less about the fall of man and more about the rise of ape. In two films Caesar has grown into quite the lead. He is a fierce warrior, cunning leader, and now has become the loving head of a family. Being an ape does not hinder his characterization, if anything it is more of enhancement. His story arc and emotional depth are not lessened because of his species, and Andy Serkis responds by giving one of his most impactful performances yet. One can only hope that the award regulations that hinder him from being nominated will be removed so he can receive the accolades he so richly deserves.

Serkis is unquestionably the most prominent name in motion capture, but his work is among of cavalcade of astounding performances from faces you will never see. Toby Kebbell who performs the role of Koba does everything possible to steal the show. His distrust of the humans comes from a lifelong torture at hands of scientist. A stunning scene displaying the ‘human work’ done to him showcases that his hatred is born out of a place of pain. He sees the remaining humans as a threat to their way of life causing conflict between him and his sworn leader Caesar. Koba may become the villain of the summer with the Machiavellian like lengths he is willing to go. Once you have an ape with double machine guns on top of a horse it is nearly impossible to not walk away a winner. Perhaps best of all is the fact that his decisions come from a place of truth.

Ironically a story about talking animals has some of the best displays of human drama this summer. Characters actions are born from intrinsic motivations and hard decisions are not bluntly forced. This narrative  it is not perfect as it becomes muddled with some of the ways it needs to manufacture conflict between the humans and apes. A baby ape stumbling upon a human weapon during a moment of peace does come off as a cheap way to increase tension. Still, tdawn_of_planet_apehe story issues are slight and easily forgivable when compared to everything it does right.

Hopefully this becomes the breakout hit that director Matt Reaves has been on the cusp of for such a long time. After movies like Cloverfield  and the highly underrated Let Me In   he has been on the verge of breaking out. Some worried, myself included, that the departure of Rupert Wyatt could hurt this sequel. Not only is that not the case Reaves brings a cinematic scope that was not there before. A spinning shot on top of rotating tank was spectacularly choreographed, and gave craftsmanship to some of the frenzied battles. Much of the action is reserved for the final act, and patience is paid off with some highly ambitious set pieces. The use Patrick Doyle’s score also gave it this domineering force as all hope appears lost.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes  does everything a sequel should do and more. Taking the foundation previously built, it further progresses its main characters in new an interesting ways. We live in a world full of remakes, reboots, sequels, and prequels. At times it appears that new ideas are going to way of the dodo. Movies like Dawn of the Planet of the Apes  show that it is not where  ideas start it is where they end up. Ingenuity and creativity can come from anywhere. Including a franchise that is nearly fifty years old.

Review Overview

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Very Good

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is not only an improvement of its predecessor it may be the best movie of this summer. Smart, inventive, and highly entertaining. It is the type of movie that can restore ones faith in blockbusters.

User Rating: 4.74 ( 4 votes)
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Dan Clark

A fan of all things comics, movies, books, and whatever else I can find that pass the time. Twitter: @DXO_Dan Instagram: Comic_concierge

6 Comments

  1. Dawn Of The Apes Review
    One is a Genius The other’s insane.
    Since the final two films of the original franchise Conquest and Battle of The Planet of The Apes…Both directors and Hollywood Studios wanted to make an epic Man Vs. Primate battle, with a bigger budget. Both films combined budgets were between 2.5 – 3 million dollars. Fast forward to 2001, and Tim Burton just cares about the… villains. After all we saw how he treated The Joker and Penguin (enough said). In 2011 we got an unknown director, with a known leading actor change the origin of how Apes will rise.
    Now three years later R-E-A-L time and eight to ten years R-E-E-L time, we get Battle of the Planet of the Apes. This one has a fresh coat of paint. By that it has a stronger story, better effects, and characters you care about. The film opens with a montage of how Rise of the Planet of the Apes ended. A simian flu has wiped out most of mankind, and surviving humans are living day by day. You have the surviving humans living in a post virus San Francisco. While Caser and his fellow primates live in the Californian Redwoods.
    What I appreciate about the ape scenes is that Caser is communicating via sign language. Granted the apes are getting smarter, yet they not “there,” yet. Oh they can write a few words, and their grunts are turning into words…I was hoping that they would wear their original outfits from the original franchise…still. The apes live in peace, and Caesar wonders if any humans are left alive.
    The human story deals with Malcolm working with Gary Oldman as two men trying to reactivate a dam. This way power can be restored in their city. Of course you get the apes not trusting humans because of the Golden Gate incident and primate sanctuary situation of the last film. The humans are scared of the apes because they’re evolving. Tension is so thick you can cut it with a knife. On top of all of this you have Starsc…I mean Koba a scared primate who had a small role in the last film.
    Koba only knows how mankind experimented on him, so he wants to wipe out the human race. What I love about this movie is that there is a power struggle. Ceaser doesn’t want a war, because many of his kind will die. It will take away all that apes have built. Koba is too far gone to listen to reason. With the humans you have a few “Koba’s,” here and there. They want to kill off the advanced apes and restore the human race.
    This film works in so many ways due to the image capture suits. Andy Serkis, Toby Kebbell as Koba and Caesar give strong performances. One is tortured, the other wants peace. Caesar also feels sorry for the remaining humans, seeing them as desperate and pitiful. Koba is manipulative, angry, and vengeful. There are also some great close up shots, of the apes. We see primate faces slowly turning into a human/ape hybrid.
    The third and final act deals with action, conflict and a tragic cliff hanger. Not to give two much away, but I wish it weren’t a downer. Then again, none of these films ever ended on a high note. Apes and humans will never see eye to eye.
    We know the apes will rise, fight, ect. However do we need another Planet of the Apes remake? There was a T.V. show in the 70’s and five T.V. movies just saying. While we’re at it, it seems that the chimps are not in charge in 1968’s Planet of the Apes. Cesar was a chimp, he’s the one who led the revolution. Yet in Planet of the Apes, another class/species of primates are in control. How did that happen? How did humans get dumber and dumber?
    We know what happened in Escape, Battle, and Conquest. Just saying you’re on a role Hollywood with this re-boot to the franchise. Don’t make us start throwing poop at the screen. Also Mr. Edwards the father son conflict between Cesar and his son worked better than what you tried on Godzilla ’14…just saying.
    I give this film a 5 out of 5.

  2. Dawn Of The Apes Review
    One is a Genius The other’s insane.
    By Cowra
    Since the final two films of the original franchise Conquest and Battle of The Planet of The Apes…Both directors and Hollywood Studios wanted to make an epic Man Vs. Primate battle, with a bigger budget. Both films combined budgets were between 2.5 – 3 million dollars. Fast forward to 2001, and Tim Burton just cares about the… villains. After all we saw how he treated The Joker and Penguin (enough said). In 2011 we got an unknown director, with a known leading actor change the origin of how Apes will rise.
    Now three years later R-E-A-L time and eight to ten years R-E-E-L time, we get Battle of the Planet of the Apes. This one has a fresh coat of paint. By that it has a stronger story, better effects, and characters you care about. The film opens with a montage of how Rise of the Planet of the Apes ended. A simian flu has wiped out most of mankind, and surviving humans are living day by day. You have the surviving humans living in a post virus San Francisco. While Caser and his fellow primates live in the Californian Redwoods.
    What I appreciate about the ape scenes is that Caser is communicating via sign language. Granted the apes are getting smarter, yet they not “there,” yet. Oh they can write a few words, and their grunts are turning into words…I was hoping that they would wear their original outfits from the original franchise…still. The apes live in peace, and Caesar wonders if any humans are left alive.
    The human story deals with Malcolm working with Gary Oldman as two men trying to reactivate a dam. This way power can be restored in their city. Of course you get the apes not trusting humans because of the Golden Gate incident and primate sanctuary situation of the last film. The humans are scared of the apes because they’re evolving. Tension is so thick you can cut it with a knife. On top of all of this you have Starsc…I mean Koba a scared primate who had a small role in the last film.
    Koba only knows how mankind experimented on him, so he wants to wipe out the human race. What I love about this movie is that there is a power struggle. Ceaser doesn’t want a war, because many of his kind will die. It will take away all that apes have built. Koba is too far gone to listen to reason. With the humans you have a few “Koba’s,” here and there. They want to kill off the advanced apes and restore the human race.
    This film works in so many ways due to the image capture suits. Andy Serkis, Toby Kebbell as Koba and Caesar give strong performances. One is tortured, the other wants peace. Caesar also feels sorry for the remaining humans, seeing them as desperate and pitiful. Koba is manipulative, angry, and vengeful. There are also some great close up shots, of the apes. We see primate faces slowly turning into a human/ape hybrid.
    The third and final act deals with action, conflict and a tragic cliff hanger. Not to give two much away, but I wish it weren’t a downer. Then again, none of these films ever ended on a high note. Apes and humans will never see eye to eye.
    We know the apes will rise, fight, ect. However do we need another Planet of the Apes remake? There was a T.V. show in the 70’s and five T.V. movies just saying. While we’re at it, it seems that the chimps are not in charge in 1968’s Planet of the Apes. Cesar was a chimp, he’s the one who led the revolution. Yet in Planet of the Apes, another class/species of primates are in control. How did that happen? How did humans get dumber and dumber?
    We know what happened in Escape, Battle, and Conquest. Just saying you’re on a role Hollywood with this re-boot to the franchise. Don’t make us start throwing poop at the screen. Also Mr. Edwards the father son conflict between Cesar and his son worked better than what you tried on Godzilla ’14…just saying.
    I give this film a 5 out of 5.

  3. Great review Dan! I was worried you weren’t going to like this one for some reason and am very happy we are in agreement. As my ‘most anticipated film of the year’ this did NOT disappoint. I plan on seeing it a second time this weekend and am so stoked it is doing so well at the box office. This is the type of movie that Godzilla and Transformers could only dream of being. By far the best movie of the summer thus far! (I was pleasantly surprised you saw this opening weekend actually)

    1. Thanks. I agree its far superior to pretty much any big film this summer. Also glad a smart movie is doing well. Hope its a good sign for the future.

    2. will you all be doing an MWIRE episode on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes?

      1. Absolutely. Its just hard sometimes for every to see a film in the first 2 days of its opening in order to get the record done on Sunday nights.

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