Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Directed by: Matt Reeves
Written by: Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver & Mark Bomback - Characters by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver - Based on the Novel "La Planéte des Singes" by Pierre Boulle
Starring: Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Tony Kebbell, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Kirk Acevedo, Nick Thurston, Terry Notary, Karin Konoval, Judy Greer, Jon Eyez, Enrique Murciano, Doc Shaw
Action/Drama/Sci-Fi/Thriller - 130 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 11 July 2014
Written by: Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver & Mark Bomback - Characters by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver - Based on the Novel "La Planéte des Singes" by Pierre Boulle
Starring: Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Tony Kebbell, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Kirk Acevedo, Nick Thurston, Terry Notary, Karin Konoval, Judy Greer, Jon Eyez, Enrique Murciano, Doc Shaw
Action/Drama/Sci-Fi/Thriller - 130 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 11 July 2014
There cannot be many more daunting circumstances than for a film to act as both the eighth film in a canon and the sequel to the second reboot. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is the sequel to 2011’s Rise of the Planets of the Apes, itself a prequel to the original series from 1968 and a reboot of the franchise after Tim Burton’s 2001 remake failed to inspire any follow-on. The 2011 film carried by James Franco adeptly set up the new series on a steady course and even keel. A modest cliffhanger ending left the story open to be picked up by new auteurs with any number of creative pathways to follow. What the 2014 installment offers is a more limited, tactical placeholder than any wide-ranging or strategic narrative we expected. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is not necessarily a stumble, but it is less than its predecessor. It fulfills The Attack of the Clones role marking time until more impactful story elements come down the line.
The new chapter in the ape franchise is an example of the balance between aesthetics and content. The look is brilliant. Improving upon the apes from 2011, no easy feat, the CGI sentient animals are seamless wonders. In the film’s best shot, which comes early on, a face-painted ape army silently waits in the tree tops poised to collectively hunt some big game animals. Caesar (Andy Serkis, 2012's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) stares directly into the camera, far from the only time he does this, with a determined look on his face; the confident stare of a natural leader. If the movie’s form matched its style, we would have 2014’s most triumphant blockbuster instead of a place-holder sequel inserted to tie together what was a promising kick-off with what we all hope will be a climactic finale.
The new chapter in the ape franchise is an example of the balance between aesthetics and content. The look is brilliant. Improving upon the apes from 2011, no easy feat, the CGI sentient animals are seamless wonders. In the film’s best shot, which comes early on, a face-painted ape army silently waits in the tree tops poised to collectively hunt some big game animals. Caesar (Andy Serkis, 2012's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) stares directly into the camera, far from the only time he does this, with a determined look on his face; the confident stare of a natural leader. If the movie’s form matched its style, we would have 2014’s most triumphant blockbuster instead of a place-holder sequel inserted to tie together what was a promising kick-off with what we all hope will be a climactic finale.
The movie’s first long segment is simian only. The apes show off advanced sign language skills, they harness the ability to make fire which lights their forest commune thoughtfully protected by layered defenses. The chemically-enhanced apes not only communicate advanced ideas amongst themselves, they are becoming greater thinkers. Maurice, the wise orangutan, serves as village school teacher and advisor; he also writes letters creating rudimentary sentences. The only legible and most spoken sentence amongst all is, “Ape Not Kill Ape,” a sharp first commandment.
Humans abruptly stop the 2001: A Space Odyssey montage with their sudden appearance. Violence between humans and apes occurs almost immediately acting as a catalyst for the film’s focus and central theme. Can there be peace between humans and apes? Is war inevitable? Through another montage, we learn there are not many humans left; perhaps a few thousand cower in what remains of San Francisco after the man-made Simian Flu wiped out the majority of humanity and its urban centers. Are there more humans or pockets of civilization in the world? No idea.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is specifically about one ape clan versus one human conglomeration. There is no wider focus, no pull back. The closest the audience gets to a loftier plane away from hit and run battles are some haphazard and mushy philosophical conversations about whether there could ever be enough trust between the species for coexistence. Those brief respites are interrupted by misunderstandings between the tribes and duplicitous acts, specifically from one ape whose new intelligence juxtaposes him with his human counterpart.
The plot is open-faced in its human/ape comparisons. Caesar and human engineer, Malcolm (Jason Clarke, 2013's The Great Gatsby), mirror each other in their patience and ability to focus on what truly matters, family and future prosperity. Koba (Tony Kebbell, 2013's The Counselor), an ape experimented on his entire life with a missing eye and multiple scars to show for it is the animal version of Dreyfus (Gary Oldman, 2014's RoboCop), the human leader and former military man solely focused on security. According to Koba and Dreyfus, there is no possibility of cooperation with ‘the other’. Survival is a zero sum game.
Director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, 2008) achieves a convincing apocalyptic look for San Francisco post epidemic and constructs an intriguing ape village setting to house the CGI marvels. However, Reeves also gives us an ape on horseback firing an assault rifle, which never requires reloading, and the obligatory jump through fire you can feel coming a mile away. It is odd to say this, but any movie can give us a horseback riding ape jumping through fire wielding a machine gun. This Planet of the Apes reboot was on course to avoid such nonsense. I expected contemplative action and violence, not Planet of the Expendables.
The new ape plot never comes together in a sensible way. There are too many subterfuges, ulterior motives, and mundane shoot-em-up episodes. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes does not hurt the series, but it does not advance it either. It also does not leave me salivating for the next installment. There will be dozens of other movies between now and then with the obvious jump through fire sequence, maybe even one with a machine gun-wielding ape.
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