My review of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Latest Apes flick Amazes by Ryan Mackett Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is the sequel to the surprisingly fantastic 2011 film Rise of the Planet of the Apes. This latest instalment is directed by Matt Reeves, creator of TV’s Felicity and director of Cloverfield. The film takes place around ten years after the events of the first film, which saw the genetic mutation of an ape named Caesar who eventually leads an exodus of formerly captive apes into the California wilderness. In the intervening ten years, a simian flu has wiped out the majority of the humans on Earth, and Caesar has risen to the undisputed leader of the new ape colony. Unbeknownst to the apes, a small colony of human survivors are living in the ruins of San Francisco; they inadvertently make contact with the apes while trying to find a former hydro-electric dam that could be their salvation, if they can persuade the apes to let them turn it back on. The simple plot works extremely well; the story sets up an unlikely and extremely fragile truce between the humans and the apes, the limits of which are constantly tested by the suspicious behaviour of characters from both races, as well as the complications that arise when something a group of people want is located somewhere that another group of…people…dont want them to be. This film represents everything that works best about summer blockbusters and well-written science fiction. It is also proof that not every blockbuster needs to pummel audiences with insane amounts of eye-candy and ludicrous exposition trying to make sense of nonsensical plots. With this latest Apes film, audiences are treated to an elegantly presented story that does in fact feature epic action and stunning visuals, but the story is great and the characters are so well developed and interesting that audiences cant help but sympathize with both races. The film was a visual masterpiece that utilized some of the best CGI I have ever seen in a live-action film the way CGI should be utilized: as a tool to help advance the story. Returning in the role of Caesar is Andy Serkis (Gollum from the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies); if an actor is ever going to be recognized by the Academy Awards for a motion-capture performance, Andy Serkis will be the first, guaranteed. His performance was amazing. Also fantastic were Jason Clarke, the brilliant Gary Oldman and Kerri Russell portraying three of the human leads in the film. Its astonishing to me, though, that the CGI apes in this film are better written and more emotionally deep characters than most of the human characters in almost every other blockbuster that has come out this summer, with few exceptions. This film was amazing, super entertaining, and worth seeing in SilverCity Thunder Bay’s new Ultra AVX theatre. Highly recommended.
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 20:56:04 +0000