Year: 2014
Director: Matt Reeves
Writers: Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Mark Bomback
Starring: Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Toby Kebbell, Keri
Russell, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Nick Thurston
The story of “Dawn Of The Planet Of
The Apes” picks up about decade after the events in “Rise Of The Planet Of TheApes”. At that time the virus unleashed in the first movie has wiped out most
of humanity, while the apes are thriving and building their own community. This
film has a new director - Matt Reeves who did “Cloverfield”
in 2008. The old team of writers is joined by Mark Bomback and the result of
their collective effort is a better and smarter script.
“Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes” was quite
good. But this one is better in every aspect – the themes are more thoroughly
explored, the dialogue is smarter and the plot is meticulously thought through.
All characters in this film are well-rounded, this time both apes and humans.
Needless to say, Serkis as Casear and Toby Kebbell as Koba both give strong
compelling performances. And how could you forget the adorable Maurice (Karin Konoval)?!
As to the human characters – the leader of the group – Malcolm, played by Jason
Clarke is absolutely fascinating. Clarke puts so much emotion and intensity in his
character without even speaking, so you could easily believe that he’s a real
person dealing with his fears and desperation in a critical situation. Gary
Oldman in the role of Dreyfus, although given less screen time also manages to
create an intense and believable character. Sadly, the female heroes are not as
strongly presented.
“Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes”
explores the main issues from the franchise more effectively, focusing on politics
and diplomacy in time of crisis and war. It touches on our anthropocentric philosophy
and self-entitlement as the better species. In a few scenes Koba takes
advantage of this mindset to fool a few humans to think he’s just a stupid
animal. And although kind of funny, these scenes are also very unsettling
exactly for the same reasons. Simply, but effectively this concept is later reversed
when Caesar says that he used to think that apes are better than humans.
The movie does really good job at
showing us the two sides of the conflict by focusing on two families from both
species. We understand their fears and desires and by exploring the tension within
both groups we see how thin the line between peace and war can be. On both
sides we have the piece-makers and the assholes. But the film treats them
equally, so we understand the motivations of the violent characters just as
well.
Strangely, the film has a little bit
of “Jurassic Park” feel, at least for me. There are a few scenes with people
nervously waiting in vehicles stopped in the middle of the rainy forest, a man
dragged from under a car and the most obvious one – people hiding from a stampede
of apes under a fallen tree. I don’t know if that’s on purpose, but as someone
who grew up with “Jurassic Park” I absolutely loved it. Speaking of this, “Dawn
Of The Planet Of The Apes” builds tension very well. For a while it also turns
into a war movie with well-directed action scenes and awesome dramatic shots.
Of course, at the end there is a little bit of spectacle, not over the top, but
suitable for a big blockbuster. Although well-done this act relies almost
entirely on CGI that’s a bit noticeable.
The soundtrack by Michael Giacchino draws
the attention with its more dominant use of percussions and a little bit old-school
dramatic vibe that also reminds me of older movies like “Tarzan” or maybe the
original “Planet Of The Apes”. I think it adds nicely to the great emotional
pull and themes of the movie. And finally, I’d like to give this entertaining,
endearing and smart cinematic adventure 5 Kubricks.
The movie has 8,0 on IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2103281/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt
90% on RottenTomatoes -http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dawn_of_the_planet_of_the_apes/?search=dawn%20of%20th
8,2 from users and 79 from critics on
MetaCritic - http://www.metacritic.com/movie/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes
Trailer:
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