Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Review

Following on from the hit 2011 prequel/reboot of The Planet of the Apes in the form of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, director of the sequel, Matt Reeves, had a rather tall order to follow up on.

Caesar taking control

Fortunately for Reeves, he got it exactly right, down to a tee. Set 10 years after the events of the first reboot (Rise), Caesar and his now large colony of apes seem to be the only sentient beings left in San Francisco after the ALZ-113 virus, or simian flu, has caused a collapse of human civilization after years of martial law and civil unrest worldwide. This results in small pockets of human settlements that have survived the outbreak and consequent unrest, and now their new neighbours, the apes, after a small group of survivors deep in the city stumble across them.

Throughout the film, you become more attached to our primate brothers (i.e. Caesar) than the humans themselves, which is exactly what Reeves and writers Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver and Mark Bomback want you to do. The film, much like the first one, follows Caesar’s story and not the human story; making it a more compelling and better film because of it… something that its Box Office rival, Transformers:Age of Extinction got completely wrong, and look what happened to that!

What made this film great, other than the story and writing was its cast, apes and humans alike. Another outstanding motion-captured performance by Andy Serkis as Caesar and Toby Kebbell as Koba played the primates’ progression to the parths of war and peace perfectly. Gary Oldman excels in yet another film, as does Jason Clarke, who plays the humanitarian role and the bridge between the two species brilliantly. Another standout performance is the current star of underrated hit TV show The Americans, Keri Russell; playing a nurse who just wants to help adds the support to help lift Clarke’s, Oldman’s and Serkis’s performances higher.

 

The special effects are again outstanding, pushing the boundaries of motion-capture and effects in general to a new level, with the set designs of a decrepit and desolate San Francisco only emphasising this and the themes running through the film in a way that makes pathetic fallacy seem redundant.

Throughout Dawn, the intelligence displayed, in terms of the characters, writing and directing, lends a further hand to the emotional resonance felt (accompanied by a thrilling soundtrack by composer Michael Giacchino) that leaves much to the imagination long after the final scene.

In fairness, there doesn’t seem to be enough words of praise in the English language that you can associate with this film; it’s not very often a sequel outshines its predecessor but this ambitious sci-fi has done just that in every single way.

5/5 Stars.