‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ Review: CGI, story, action and Andy Serkis are awesome
Fox has found gold with their Planet of the Apes franchise, revitalized by writing duo Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa, seen in the latest chapter: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Star Andy Serkis is joined by a whole new human cast to move the prequel storyline closer to the epic world Charlton Heston discovered in the 1968 classic.
Set ten years after 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes Caesar now leads a civilization of the apes: hunting, educating their young and raising families. The human population has been decimated by the ‘Simian Flu’ which gave the apes their enhanced cognitive abilities.
Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty) is the ‘good human’ named Malcolm and Gary Oldman plays the untrusting former military man who share leadership roles of the surviving humans in San Francisco. The conflict over energy and geography presents itself quickly before corruption and prejudice infiltrates the apes’ world, bringing chaos and violence.
From the opening image, the CGi, motion capture and performance by Serkis truly amazes. The massive scope and detail of the apes in action, converging on a devastated San Fran was just incredible. Director Matt Reeves balanced the necessary ingredients of the summer blockbuster with a fantastic story perfectly.
The humans are irrelevant here, so there’s no just criticism of Keri Russell, who has too little to do or Kirk Acevedo, who plays the guy you love to hate. Oldman is the only oddball here. He’s a bit overzealous and the climax centering on his character just seemed forced.
Clarke continues to impress and solidifies himself here as a capable leading man for certain styles of film. Kodi Smit-McPhee has some good scenes to work with as Malcolm’s son, Alexander, and will find some promisong roles offered his way in the future.
Trust me, I’m not complaining, This film has just claimed the top spot of 2014 for me. There are so many potential routes to the classic Planet of the Apes world, you race to conclusions that are proved wrong time and again or just manifest in ways which are highly entertaining.
I couldn’t say enough about the Serkis performance, but let me be fair by praising the entire team – the apes are just fantastic. Blue Eyes (Nick Thurston) and Toby Kebbell’s Koba are very impressive in their own right.
Overall Dawn of the Planet of the Apes receives 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.
This is much darker than Rise, but the journey “makes sense” and leaves you wanting more.
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