Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Starring: Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Toby Kebell, Kodi Smit-Mcphee
Directed By: Matt Reeves
Reviewed by Danielle Muir
[rating: 4.5/5]
Breath taking. Moving. Emotional. Everything you’ve heard about Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is true. It is indeed a rare gem, a ‘mainstream’ film (for want of a better word) that isn’t afraid to push for dark, emotional content rather than staying within the safe confines of what is generally perceived as pleasing the masses. It’s been a while between Apes (3 years is a long time in Hollywood terms), but once you see the blood, sweat and tears that would have gone into this film, you’ll be glad they took their sweet time.
Ten years after the events of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the majority of the earth’s population has been wiped out by the Simian flu. If they didn’t die from the flu, they were taking out by the fighting that resulted of society crumbling. The now fully-grown Caesar is the leader of an ape community, living peacefully in the woods of San Francisco. That is, until a group of human survivors stumble upon their home, searching for a power source for their own human colony back in the ruins of the city. The two species face moral struggles as they attempt to work together for the good of both their futures – but there’s deep unrest on both sides from past cruelties.
The film expertly and masterfully navigates through risky territory – how to make audiences connect and become emotionally involved with characters that are not human. The apes come to life through incredible motion capture performances and computer-generated effects, and will have you convinced you’re looking at the real thing. Because their features, feelings and emotions translate so well, there are no problems becoming emotionally invested in their story – and you will – because it’s one of the importance of protecting family, brothers at war, trust and compassion.
The film focusses largely on the drama between the species and in their own community as each mistrusts and scrambles to protect their own – with tension constantly dangling on a knife point. The dramatic storyline is meaty and substantial – whilst there are heavy action elements in the climax (one Ape rides a horse whilst blasting two machine guns – priceless), it doesn’t detract from the beauty of the humans and apes interacting and working through their issues. One almost wishes the film focused solely on the drama genre rather than incorporating heavy gunfire and large action sequences – perhaps that inherently dark direction would be too bold.
One flaw is the odd soundtrack, which at times seems exaggerated during any chase, scouting or mildly sentimental scenes. Unusual instrument sounds or a mushy, lovestruck score for sentimental scenes isn’t necessary and just serves to distract.
Apart from this the film is virtually flawless. Incredible performances, visual effects and a meaty moral storyline make the two and a half hour run time fly by. One of the best of the year thus far.
Come for the apes, stay for the humans.
