Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a sci-fi action movie, the sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes, thus making it the second installment of the reboot series, and the overall eighth film in the franchise. It was produced by Chernin Entertainment and TSG Entertainment and distributed 20th Century Fox. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was written by Mark Bomback, Rick Jaffa, and Amanda Silver and directed by Matt Reeves.
The story is, it's been it's been ten years since the deadly Simian Flu pandemic spread. After this events tensions between the humans and the apes has only risen. Despite this, Caesar and his colony have formed a truce with a group of humans, but two figures on both sides don't agree with this. Now, Caesar and this colony of humans must find a way to stop things from escalating into an all out war.
- Negatives
I've got nothing.
- Mix
The only mix feelings I had was with the CGI. Don't get it twisted, there's still tons, and I mean tons of greatly done CGI, but I gotta admit there were a few times when it just didn't look good.
- Positives
Now with that out of the way let's get to the good stuff, starting with the performances. Much like with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, we have a great cast. They are truly amazing. Andy Serkis once again kills it as Caesar. Even actors who aren't playing that big of a part, in this case Gary Oldman as Dreyfus, do a stellar job.
Then there's Matt Reeves' directing. Time for a bit of honesty, prior to seeing this movie back in 2014, I didn't see Matt Reeves' previous movies (those being Cloverfield and Let Me In). So I had no idea what to expect when I finally saw this on DVD. And what I saw was gorgeous. After watching this back in 2014 and yesterday, I absolutely love Reeves directing style. He's truly a talented director and ever shot it's clear he's putting nothing but his best into this.
Which then brings me to the cinematography. Michael Seresin gave the film a very realistic look. Which makes sense because a majority of the time, he's just using natural lighting. And that natural lighting like I said previously makes the movie look very realistic, while at the same time, almost makes some places look like they're a painting.
Now for the most part, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is more focused on being a character study, but there's still plenty of action to enjoy. I never thought an ape riding on horseback, while firing off two machine guns would look so awesome, until I saw this movie. For the record I didn't make that up, it actually happened, and it's pretty awesome.
Alright, now we get to the biggest praise of them all. That is the story. It not only took its time to get us to the big explosive finale, but it also has a natural flow to it. We don't waste anytime with introductions, the movie immediately starts off with telling us what's happened to humanity after Rise of the Planet of the Apes. But the truly amazing aspect of the film is its focus on characters. One common and understandable criticism I saw with Rise was the human characters just weren't given compelling stories. Well Dawn fixes that. one human story is Dreyfus. The guy's not in that much, but his story is really good. He's lost everything and he's at a very dangerous desperation point. It's gotten to the point where he'll protect and help his people, no matter what it takes. Sure he'll give the more peaceful option a chance, but it's a one and done chance at that. Then there's our main human character, Malcolm. He's story is primarily about connections. He's not only trying to connect his family together, while at the same time keep them protected, but he also wants to connect with the apes. Not only because he needs to in order to help his family and people, but it's also because it seems like he wants to go against the us vs. them mentality that surrounds both groups. Now don't worry about the apes, they get great storylines too. Especially Caesar. With the first film, he goes through a journey of self-discovery, which turns him into a great leader to the apes. His story here is bias viewpoint being demolished. For a good portion of the movie he believes apes are better than humans. He doesn't think that his kind could possibly be capable of turning on each other like the humans did when tensions rose. But then he IS betrayed but his own, and it makes him realize how this bias view was ultimately a failure, and also realizes just how badly of a mistake he made. These three things alone perfectly display just how great the story is.
Guys, while I loved Rise of the Planet of the Apes, I love Dawn of the Planet of the Apes way more.
My final rating is, A Must Watch!
Alright two down, one more to go. But for now I'm done. Come back on Mar 7th, for the final part of the Road to Kung Fu Panda 4, with my review of Kung Fu Panda 3. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.
No comments:
Post a Comment