- #DAWN OF THE RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES MOVIE#
- #DAWN OF THE RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES SERIES#
Top of the chain, of course, is Serkis as Caesar, who bests his work in Rise with a performance that is not just award-worthy but groundbreaking.
#DAWN OF THE RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES MOVIE#
The movie is called Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, however, and that is where the characterizations, assisted by some of the most astonishing motion capture technology yet seen, excel.
Oldman is fine but his Dreyfus never comes across as more than a single-minded villain his absence from most of the second act also takes a toll on any empathy that might been established for him. Malcolm, his girlfriend Ellie (Keri Russell), and Dreyfus are all defined by the losses they experienced in the plague and not much more, although Clarke and Russell bring a warmth and humanity to their performances that goes a long way toward making them more three-dimensional than they first appear, and helps make some of the clunky expository dialogue go down easier. That measured approach extends to the characters as well, although it’s safe to say that the humans are less well-realized that their simian counterparts. There is a pitched, momentous battle two-thirds of the way through the film that is striking not just for its breathless action (and a few startling shots, such as the POV from the top of a tank) but for its emotional weight: the viewer is aware at all times that this exercise in death and destruction could have been prevented, which gives it a resonance that you won’t find in most modern sci-fi action (here’s looking at you, Transformers). Yet, Reeves brilliantly finds a way to weave those concerns into a suspenseful thriller while also delivering on both the quiet moments and the big set pieces. That philosophical and sociological backdrop has always been a part of the Apes franchise and is perhaps given its finest, most layered development here. It is these dynamics - the turmoil in each group as well as the larger tension between the two fledgling societies - that bring a profound sense of relevance and poignancy to the film, so rare in a summer action tentpole and in a lot of what passes for big budget sci-fi these days. At the same time, Malcolm has to convince many of his compatriots - including their ape-hating leader Dreyfus (Gary Oldman), who wants to exterminate the simians as revenge for the loss of his family in the plague - that the apes simply want peace.
#DAWN OF THE RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES SERIES#
Dawn is rich, gripping, frightening and ultimately moving, with a thoughtful, melancholy tone that has been the hallmark of this series at its very best.īefore long, however, some humans from a community of survivors holed up in a compound in San Francisco (led by Jason Clarke’s Malcolm) are dispatched to restart a hydro-electric plant in the wilderness near the apes’ village. The humans desperately need that power, and Caesar reluctantly agrees to work with them over the objections of animal-testing survivor Koba (Toby Kebbell) and even his own son Blue Eyes (Nick Thurston). Not only that, but Reeves (working from a script by Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, and Mark Bomback) has made a great science fiction film, period, and one of the best genre offerings of any kind in 2014. Now, Wyatt has departed, and in his place Matt Reeves, helmer of Cloverfield and Let Me In, has been tasked with securing the franchise’s future with a successful follow-up.Īnd he has done it: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is not just a superior successor to Rise, but in terms of sheer quality filmmaking, storytelling, character-building, and thematic depth, it is probably only bested by the classic 1968 original. ***This article contains mild spoilers from Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.***ĭawn of the Planet of the Apes arrives 13 years after Tim Burton’s woeful 2001 remake all but killed the franchise and three years after director Rupert Wyatt successfully rebooted it with the surprisingly excellent Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
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