By Joseph Rossi
Fantastic creature effects coupled with a intelligent storyline make Dawn of the Planet of the Apes the best film of the summer by far.
This is is summer perfection. It’s the anti blockbuster. That means it combines smart dialogue, great characters, outstanding visuals and most importantly – ideas. What a refreshing change from the usual, soulless overlong toy commercials that pass off as movies these days.
The first film was a surprise hit and more importantly, a very good movie. This film, directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield), raises the bar. Actually it surpasses the bar. The film begins serveral years after the events of the first. The simian flu has wiped out the majority of the human population except for a few pockets of the immune that form communities and try their best to survive. This reflects the apes who are actually thriving in their own communities. Caesar, the leader of the ape uprising, has become a father and leads his kind through the northern Californian wilderness.
After years of peace, a band of apes come into conflict with a human hunting party and a young ape is injured. The hunting party’s sympathetic leader Malcolm (Jason Clarke) does his best to make peace with the apes but Caesar declares the forest off limits to humans. This creates issues among the ranks of both societies. Certain apes would rather wipe out the human race while the humans would rather go to war then take orders from the animals that caused their extinction. The parallels between the humans and the apes are one of the reasons this film works so well. Both have the capacity to love, to grow but it’s simple hatred that is the factor that ruins everything.
The film has some amazing visuals that I will not soon forget. The image of an ape holding a gun has a primal feeling to it, one that reminds me of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. An animal of raw intelligence and instinct holding a weapon instills horror rather then awe and that’s the point the filmmakers are trying to make. That what was once a pure being, free and at peace can be corrupted and manipulated into being flawed and dangerous.
This is how to make a blockbuster. This is miles better then the Tim Burton debacle in 2001. While that was a bloated cash grab, this film ( as well as the 2011 predecessor) captures the essence of the original films and we can slowly see how the story will come full circle . This is one of the very best films of the year. Andy Serkis (Gollum from the Lord of the Rings film) plays Caesar with the help of the best motion capture visuals I have ever seen. It’s a true performance, full of soul and integrity. I would love for him to see some Academy love come the awards season. He’s that good. So is the film.
