Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Review
I would have never guessed that the prequel
franchise to a film series about talking apes would ever hit me at such a
personal level. Yes, I have been writing about the “Planet of the Apes” films
on my Essentials column for the last two weeks, but there is a sense of fun to
that franchise. What “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” did and what director Matt
Reeves did with “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” is something different. There
is still a sense of fun to these prequels, but there is also an emotional
journey that I found substantially surprising. I never knew that the story, the
theme and the characters would hit me as hard as they did here. But “Dawn of
the Planet of the Apes” is a bigger and smarter expansion of this prequel
story, and I think audiences are going to be surprised by how affected they
were by it.
The film opens showing us the pinpoints of how the
epidemic from the first film gradually takes over the entire planet. The virus
that erupted from the first film is called Simian Flu, and it took the lives of
nearly every human on the planet. We learn how quarantine failed, we learn how
the human race turned on each other, and we learn how the apes became the
dominant species on the planet. Then we see connect with Caesar (Andy Serkis), and
for a good ten or so minutes of the opening, we get an awesome glimpse of the
culture Caesar and the other apes have created for themselves after the events
of the first film. We also reconnect with Koba (Toby Kebbell), Maurice (Karin
Konoval), Rocket (Terry Notary) and Cornelia (Judy Greer) and I found it quite
breath-taking seeing the world the apes have created. I liked that we got a
chance to really see how their world worked and what made them tick. We see
them hunt, we seem them give birth, we see what the home they have constructed
themselves, it is all very absorbing and I was pulled into it all.
The apes live in a great peace, and that peace is
threatened by Malcolm (Jason Clarke) and Dreyfus (Gary Oldman). Malcolm and a
search party accidently happen upon the ape civilization. It seems that all of
the humans are not dead on Earth, and that they are striving to survive. That
means passing through the ape civilization to generate power for the former
city of San Francisco. Malcolm doesn’t want to fight the apes, but Dreyfus is
more than ready to fight the apes. Not only that, but Caesar will do anything
to keep the peace between his apes and the people inhabiting the former city of
San Francisco but Koba hates the humans with a passion and wants to kill every
single one of them. This sets up a harrowing adventure as well as a conflict of
philosophies. The film itself revolves around Caesar and how he tries to keep a
peaceful civilization running, even if it is not what all his people want. How
can you help somebody trust a race that only gave them pain? How can you work
with a race that fears and hates you in order to find resolve? I think
audiences will be surprised how deep “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” digs and
I found the result almost devastating.
The work done on all the apes is absolutely
captivating, and features the very best of what can be done with
top-of-the-line special effects. I was impressed by the effects work on the
last film, but the scale of this film is so much bigger, and there are so many
more apes that it makes the achievements evermore impressive. The work done by
Serkis continues to captivate me and I especially like all the apes in this
movie. I think all the actors did a very good job bringing the apes to life and
they deserve major credit for their work. I also have to single out Toby
Kebbell’s work as Koba. I never would have imagined that his character would be
so fleshed out, but if you re-watch the first film, you can see those seeds
planted early on. I love that he isn’t a “bad ape” for the sake of being a bad
ape. There is a specific reason that he harbors such a strong hatred for
humans. And every decision he makes, he makes for the sake of his people. He is
overly loyal to Caesar, even if he has to be rougher compared to the other
apes.
The same can be said about the humans. If you watch
the trailers and if you know Gary Oldman’s reputation, you know he is going to
be the really bad human. But there is a purpose to it, Oldman isn’t a bad human
simply because the story needed one, he is bad for an equally important reason.
Every character, whether they are human or ape, suffers from a trauma and how
they deal with that trauma effects the entire storyline. I was very much
impressed by the shades of gray that imbedded itself in the entire story. I
also feel Gary Oldman gives yet another outstanding performance. The same can
be said about Jason Clarke, or Keri Russell who plays Clarke’s new girlfriend,
or Kodi Smit-McPhee who plays Clarke’s biological son. These humans have been
suffering for many years; they don’t appear because the apes need a foil. That
is what makes the film and its climax so much more emotionally demanding
compared to other summer blockbusters.
That leads into my next point, this is a smart
movie. There are some big action set pieces near the end of the movie, but
there is not a gigantic action climax at the end. “Dawn of the Planet of the
Apes” plays smart throughout, always pulling at your heartstrings, always
engaging you emotionally. But when it’s time for some action, director Matt
Reeves does not disappoint. I also applaud the cinematography by Michael
Seresin, who makes a lush landscape between new ape civilization and human
world torn by war and violence. I also loved the music by Michael Giacchino, I
especially liked how it sounded modern but also in the vein of the 1970’s, I
love the classic feel of the music and it elevated certain scenes in the film.
I know we still have roughly a month and a half of
summer movie season left, but I bet that “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” will
be the summer movie people talk the most about. There is awesome action and
just as much awesome drama. It features a raw storyline as well as stunning
special effects. It is brought to life by an incredible ensemble and created by
an equally incredible crew. “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” works in nearly
every level there could be, visually striking and engaging in nearly every
sense of the word. I loved every moment of it and I love how carefully
constructed this prequel franchise has been handled so far and I only hope it
gets better from here.
FINAL GRADE: A
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