Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - Movie Review

A sequel is expected to give you more of what you liked of the first, but an improved version. It is supposed to build off the success of the first, and make things bigger. It should build onto the characters and take them in different directions. Some aspects of making a sequel are simple, but many aspects of making a good sequel are very difficult. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is thankfully a sequel that does build off of the original. It does make things bigger, and it does build onto the characters and take them in different directions. And, of course, it takes more of what was good in the first and presents it in a better and improved direction.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes takes place ten years after the events of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The chemical used to make the apes more intelligent but killed humans was released in the air, and it spread a disease across the world that annihilated almost the entire human race. Now, the apes have created a civilization and the humans are struggling to survive with what they have. When a group of humans and the society of apes find each other, they are brought the brink of war as some on both sides try to keep peace, but some on both sides try to exterminate the other side.

I saw where each side was coming from in the film. It seemed that everyone, including the apes, had a good reason for doing what they did. I understood both the humans and the apes. This helped me connection with the characters more, so I actually did care about the characters, and that includes the apes. They were made into characters. They had human qualities. They were so well thought-out that I had an emotional connection to them. And they were also perfectly realized in the motion capture. The performance given by Andy Serkis (Ceasar) is better than any of the performances given by the actors that played humans. He was perfect as Ceasar, and he had competition from Gary Oldman.

As far as the actors for the humans go, Jason Clarke (Malcolm) was good in the movie. I didn’t feel that he gave this great performance, but he worked for the movie and it was not obvious that he was acting. Gary Oldman (Dreyfus) is a great actor. I feel that he always adds something to the movie. And he does that here. Although Dreyfus is not the main character and Gary Oldman does not have a great amount of screen time, his character is very important and Oldman is great here. Although he is a villain in some ways, Oldman gives a half-sympathetic performance to help boost the character. Keri Russell (Ellie) worked for the film. She did not give a bad performance, but she did not make the role hers and help boost the film. I feel like Ellie could have been played by anybody, but Russell still did a good job.

In both groups, there are power struggles among the leaders. There are people (and apes) who have been under a certain leader for a long time, but in this dilemma (coming in contact with the other group) believe that the leader is making the wrong choice and taking things into their own hands… These characters are usually some that have a problem with the other group because of this emotional and personal reason. Some of the humans blame the apes for the virus that eliminated almost the entire human race even though it was not their fault. There is one ape named Koba that was experimented on in the human labs and now has many scars from it. He believes they should kill all of the humans. The two groups are much like each other, and the leaders of the groups are both facing troubles, so there is an emotional connection with both of them. The two groups are very much like each other.

I felt that the narrative of this film was though-out and treated with much care. This is an extremely smartly written movie. The plot, from beginning to end, is taken in a much different direction than is expected. It is a very unpredictable film, and every beat of the narrative seems so well thought-out. The characters and the different groups in the film fantastically written, and the plot is excellent as well. The only gripe I have with the script, and event the entire film, is that there are some in-scene clichés (ex. girlfriend doesn’t want boyfriend to go to do dangerous thing so she goes too) and there was one in-plot cliché (two groups hate each other but one character in the villainous group wants to make peace with both groups).

The execution for the movie is pristine. The visual effects are a technical marvel here. In Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the CGI for the apes was good, but you could tell that they weren’t real if you looked closely. In Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, every aspect of the apes is done so well that the apes do look real. Down to every single hair, the motion capture for the apes is immaculate. Other visual effects, such as destruction of things, looks great, too. But the visual effects are not the only fantastic visual things here: the cinematography is excellent. The movie simple just looks great. The landscapes, the lighting, etc. all look great in the film.

The direction for the film is great. From the very first shot, I felt that the film was done so well and every take was executed the best it could have been executed. Every shot feels like it needs to be there. Every shot adds to the movie. And every shot seems as if is framed was care and the director made sure that it is perfect. And the action sequences are excellently executed. Not only is camerawork fantastic, but how they look and what happens in them seems to be excellent. There are also some one-shots in the film, and they are excellent. They really do add to the movie and they do not seem like they’re there just so there could be a one-shot. There are about two of them in the film, and they really do boost the action sequences to make them more intense and more fun.

Some sequels actually do boost the substance of the original in every aspect. Famous sequels, like The Dark Knight (2008), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) have done this thing. Those sequels are rare, but they come. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is definitely better than its predecessor, and it does boost every aspect of Rise of the Planet of the Apes.