______________________________________________
I remember back before Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes came out people would tell me that it was gonna be a terrible flop. To be honest I was inclined to agree with them, largely to the fact that Tim Burtons re-make back in 2001 was still painfully fresh in my memory. But when I saw the first trailer and researched the technology put into it I had a glimmer of hope. When the film came out I remember those same people, who were adamant it was going to be bad, looking down in shame as they reluctantly ate their words.
Rupert Wyatt's reboot of the franchise was a smart, well written, well executed blockbuster movie that not only reinvigorated a franchise but highlighted the incredible possibilities of what motion capture could bring to the big screen. In fact the film was one of my favourites of the year in 2011. So when I heard that they would be doing a sequel I was delighted! However the news that Rupert Wyatt would not return and Matt Reeves would take over had me cautiously worried about the future of the franchise. But when the trailers began to roll out for Dawn, like with Rise, I was hooked and my worries began to fade and my excitement grew. Well I've finally had the chance to watch Dawn, but the question is; did Matt Reeves deliver?
The story begins 10 years after the first film and the simian flu, created by the lab James Franco's character worked for, has wiped out most of the worlds human population. Caesar (Andy Serkis) is now the leader of the genetically evolved apes who have grown in number, residing in the Redwood Forrest outside of San Francisco. But it's not just Caesar who's the only familiar ape from the first film we see. We see the return of Maurice (the orangutan who escaped with Caesar) and Koba (the scar ridden, milky eyed lab ape played by Toby Kebbell). Also one big new addition in Caesars life is that of his adolescent son named Blue Eyes (Nick Thurston) plus Caesars wife and new born son. Having not seen any humans in two years the apes assume that none are left. That is until two apes encounter a small group of humans in the woods, resulting in one of the apes being shot and Caesar demanding they leave and never come back. Intrigued but also worried about the reappearance of humans in the area Caesar orders his apes to follow the humans to see where they are camped. They discover that the humans, led by a former SFPD officer called Dreyfus (Gary Oldman), have settled in the heart of the city. When the humans are in need of a power source for the city, in the form of a water dam located in the apes territory, they send a small group to negotiate with the apes. However tensions, both internal and external on both sides, rise leading to fatal consequences and a battle to see who is the dominant species on the planet.
So the story in this sequel is very much just centred around Caesar and the apes and yes you could say that about the first film, because Caesar was the main character after all, but remember that Rise was a more human-centric storyline. So to see a story from the apes perspective is extremely refreshing and the sheer detail that has gone into creating an intelligently cohesive ape community is extremely well done. Never do you feel like these apes are unbelievable or too over-the-top. From the way they live off the land, working together to hunt in a group. To the way they predominately use sign language to communicate to each other. Now don't get me wrong the apes have changed a lot but not to the point where you see them having coffee and talking about their latest smart-phones.
In the first film you always felt a connection to Caesar because of his human like intelligence but you felt disconnected from the other apes who escaped San Francisco along-side him. Not in Dawn however. You see the way they interact with each other, from young apes learning the written language from Maurice to the structures in which they live. They have developed a primitive, but human-like, society. The changes are subtle but believable and credit to Reeves for striking that balance.
It's not the subtle changes that truly define these apes as believable and relatable characters however. That clearly goes to the exceptional visual effects that has gone into creating them. I watched the first film before I went to the cinema to see Dawn because I always like to see how the visual effects in films like these progress. And boy did they progress! In the first film you could kind of always tell that they were CGI, it just had that plastic shine to it that gave it away. But in the new film I literally had to rub my eyes in disbelief at certain points in the movie because I thought they had actually trained apes to talk! The graphical detail in the apes has been pumped up in leaps and bounds.
The crowning glory however is the motion capture performances. We all know Andy Serkis is a pioneer in this field but I truly believe this is the role that people will see and realise that motion capture has a definitive place in the movie world. The complexity and emotion he brings to Caesar is just astonishing! In-fact he brings the best and most believably raw performance out of any other character in the film. Plus his counter-part Koba played by Toby Kebbell deserves recognition for following Andy Serkis in bringing out a brilliant Mo-cap performance. Now granted that there are teams of visual effects guys working on turning these guys into apes and they deserve equal credit but a good performance is a good performance. I truly feel that these two actors (Serkis & Kebbell) and what they have brought to the table will certainly make other performers in Hollywood stand up and take notice at the proven potential of motion capture performance.
Now as for the actual human actors in the film? Well that's were it kind of drags. There's a lot of clichés for instance the jackass who doesn't listen and acts like a asshole to everybody, or Gary Oldman's character who plays the typical power hungry leader who denies the thought of these apes being intelligent beings even though he's seen them for himself. But it isn't all bad. Jason Clarke played his character Malcom well and his relationship with Caesar was interesting, but there wasn't enough focus or back story on him to make you feel fully engaged in his character. The same can be said for Keri Russell, who put up a decent performance but again the character development fell flat.
The script is solid and the ending rounds out well, leaving the possibility for a third film. I particularly liked the gradual increase in actual dialogue from the apes as the film progressed and they became more involved with the humans. Plus the conflict within Caesar as an ape raised by humans but now leading the apes and being forced into a decision of sides was a smart way of connecting the two films through him. It was shot really well and there was actually one shot on a tank that made me go "wow that's a good shot" which never usually happens to me in big blockbusters now-a-days.
I have to say that I was blown away by this summer blockbuster with brains. It's great to see more of these big Hollywood movies are starting to see that big explosions and action sequences just doesn't cut it anymore with an audience and that great narratives, supported by fantastic performances is the way to go. If this doesn't seem like your kind of movie, just give it a try. I guarantee you will be glued to the screen within minutes and come out feeling satisfied.
RATING: ★★★★☆
By Matthew Trick
0 comments:
Post a Comment