Review
  • Writing
  • Visuals
  • Andy Serkis
  • Lack of the phrase "Damn dirty apes"
  • Lack of Simpson-esque musical numbers
4

Summary

Director: Matt Reeves

Writers: Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver &
Mark Bomback (written by); Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (characters); Pierre Boulle … (novel La Planète des Singes)

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

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Release Date: July 11, 2014

Sending
User Review
0 (0 votes)

dawnoftheapes-poster

The challenge for prequels is that the ending is always a forgone conclusion. It can rob the film of dramatic tension if the audience already knows the ultimate outcome.

This could potentially be challenging for a film like Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Chances are, when you think of the original 1968 Planet of the Apes film, one of the first things that comes to mind is Charlton Heston’s character on the beach, staring at the ruined Statue of Liberty and shouting “You maniacs! You blew it up!” as it sinks in that he’s been on Earth the whole time.

So going into Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, we all know that the apes are fated to win. We know that eventually the entire human race has to be eradicated so that the apes can form their own society.

What’s so surprising about Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is how much tension the film gets out of the struggle for both the humans and the apes to avoid an all out war. We know the two sides have to fight and yet so much of the film involves the two lead characters trying to avoid a war. You want them to succeed, even though you know that they can’t.

On the ape side, there is Caesar (Andy Serkis), the protagonist from Rise of the Planet of the Apes, who now finds himself the leader of the new superintelligent ape civilization. Ten years have passed since the last film and in that time most of the human race has died off due to the Simian Flu, which was caused by the same medical testing that made the apes smarter and more like humans. The apes are living in peace, believing that the humans are all dead.

But there is still a small contingent of humans still alive. They are huddled together in San Fransisco, using generators for power and doing what they can to go on with their lives. But they are almost out of fuel for the generators and need a more permanent power source. So they go into the jungle in order to harness power from an abandoned dam that, unfortunately for them, is near the apes’ civilization.

The expedition into the jungle is lead by a man named Malcolm (Jason Clarke), who, like Caesar, believes that the humans and apes can coexist. But others on both sides disagree.

Caesar has a soft spot for the humans because he was raised and cared for by one, but others in his camp had harsher upbringings – they were hurt by humans as part of lab experiments, so they don’t trust them. In particular, Koba (Toby Kebbell), a former lab ape who still bares the scars from the experimentations, believes that all of the humans must die.

On the human side, Dreyfus (Gary Oldman), the leader, is skeptical that the apes can be reasoned with and thinks the best course of action is to just kill them all. And while the apes have greater numbers, the humans have more firepower.

The friendship Caesar and Malcolm form and their struggle to prevent the inevitable all-out war gives the film a strong emotional arc. It adds weight to a movie that is ultimately about people firing rockets at an army of talking apes riding horses and helps ground it, which is necessary to sell the audience on the more outlandish parts of it.

And when the film does get to the part where the humans and apes engage in all out war, it’s a visually stunning and epic battle. I can’t say enough great things about the visual effects in this movie. They are flawless. The film opens with a closeup of Caesar’s face – you can see every tiny detail in his eye, every hair on his face and every tiny wrinkle. This is a film that lives or dies by the quality of its CGI and it absolutely nails it. You never question the fact that you are watching anthropomorphized apes. Caesar and his followers feel as real as their human counterparts.

Of course, while the visual effects are key, equally as important is the motion capture performance by Andy Serkis, who plays Caesar. Serkis has proven himself time and time again to be the best motion capture actor in the business and it was nice to see him get top billing in this film. All of the performances in the film are great, but it’s Serkis that truly shines.

I am incredibly impressed with Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. It has an entertaining and compelling story and some of the best visual effects I’ve ever seen. And since the end of the film clearly sets things up for a sequel, I’m excited about the future of this franchise as well.

dawnoftheapes1

Written by Joel Murphy. If you enjoy his reviews, he also writes a weekly pop culture column called Murphy’s Law, which you can find here. You can contact Joel at murphyslaw@hobotrashcan.com.