Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Movie Review
2011’s “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” wound up being a critical and financial success, so of course a sequel to the franchise reboot was going to happen. This time around, Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In) takes over directing duties for Rupert Wyatt and it gives me great pleasure to tell you that “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” is even better than the previous film. This is a far more epic picture and Andy Serkis proves once again that he is the motion capture master.
Set ten years after the events of the first film, most of humanity has been wiped out by the Simian Flu, which was the man-made chemicals that helped the apes evolve. Caesar (Serkis), along with his family which consists of his mate, grown son and new born, reside in the woods that overlook San Francisco. Caesar has become the leader the apes. Hundreds of apes live in the village and they all live in peace.
Humans haven’t been seen in the area in ten years and the apes believe they have all become extinct. That is until a group of humans, led by Malcolm (Jason Clarke) and Ellie (Keri Russell) wander into the woods, looking for the Dam that will restore limited power to the city below. The first run-in between human and ape does not go well, when one of the humans shoots one of the apes out of fear. Caesar does not want war, so it doesn’t take a whole lot for him to give the humans the benefit of the doubt and let them do what they need to do, so they can go back home.
Unfortunately, Koba (Toby Kebbell) does not trust the humans, and with good reason. Koba was the ape that was tortured and left scarred in the first film. He wants the humans gone and he is willing to do anything to make that happen. The angry ape isn’t the only one making waves. Carver (Kirk Acevedo), one of the humans doesn’t trust the apes and he is causing just as much damage to the peace as Koba. Meanwhile Dreyfus (Gary Oldman), the city leader feels the apes are just animals and doesn’t believe that they are anything more than that.
One of the great things about “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” is that there are really no bad guys. Things aren’t so black and white. Everyone (human and ape) simply wants to protect their own. The real evil in the story is mistrust. This also feels quite epic. Stunning locations and the ape animation is fantastic. I also love that we get to spend a bit of time with just the apes in the films first act, to see how they live. We get to see the world they have created for themselves.
Serkis gives the best motion capture performance of his career so far and though I know he won’t get an Academy Award for it, he really should at least be nominated. Kebbell is also outstanding as Koba. All the ape performances are terrific actually and I bet Serkis gave each actor a hand in how to make their characters stand out.
If you loved the first film, then you are going to go ape-sh*t over the sequel (sorry, I couldn’t resist). Don’t monkey around this weekend, go see “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”.
By: Marc Ferman