Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Director: Matt Reeves
Cast Headliners: Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Toby Kebbell, Keri Russell
Original Release Date: July 11th , 2014
The original Planet of the Apes is an great film with
deep insight into the way different groups treat and subjugate others, which
made sense being that it released in the 1970’s, but was told through a lens of
monkey overlords. Aside from sequels of
varying quality there was a alright but underperforming remake by Tim Burton
the franchise had remained dormant. 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes
directed by Rupert Wyatt was an incredible re-restart to the world of Apes, and
showed a fascinating and emotional new beginning to this world of super simians.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes follows up that film to a great result.
The film does not jump all the way to fully civilized apes
just yet. It is set five years after the
events of the last film. The world has been ravaged by the Simian flu and human
civilization has collapsed. In this “post-ape-palyptic” world we are
re-introduced to Caesar (played again by Andy Serkis) and his tribe of
intelligent apes. Every single motion capture actor playing the apes deserves
praise, especially Serkis. The visuals and effects on them are so good that
they seem shockingly real. A large
portion of the film takes place from Caeser and other ape’s perspectives. Sign language and subtitles are used with
minimilstic visual story telling but it is never boring or hard to follow. The
direction by Matt Reeves at the helm manages to make their story digestible and
emotional. Although the ape society is
at a not-much-more than Neanderthal level some deep politics and discussions
take place. This time several of the
apes talk in brief voiced English tones, but it makes sense and does not come
off as cheesy even though they look like real animals. This is aided by the
emotion of Serkis in his physical and vocal role, along with his peer Koba
(played by Toby Kebbell) who has a ape performance right up there with Serkis’.
This dark world is also a tale of human survival. In the overgrown ruins of San Francisco a
band of survivors exists still led by Dreyfus (Gary Oldman). Oldman is his
usual charismatic self and turns out to be a horrible villain by the end. Dreyfus
, after various events, sends a team including Malcolm (Jason Clarke) and his
wife Ellie (Keri Russell) and their son Alexander (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and
others. The performances by these are
very solid as well. The film is as expected incredibly emotional; and the drama
between these players is very heartfelt through acting and the lush musical
score.
The film balances moments of quiet emotional
contemplation with intense dramatic face-offs. The interaction and prejudice
between the two species’ societies brilliantly unfolds to an epic action packed
finale. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
has taken everything that made the first film great and improved on all of
those areas. It’s the most thoughtful
and introspective blockbuster of the summer, but yet it still manages to be one
of the most exhilarating. 9.1 out of 10
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