Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

90% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 168 reviews)

Runtime: 131 minutes

Directed by: Matt Reeves

Starring: Andy Serkis, Toby Kebbel, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell (no relation)

From: 20th Century Fox

Now, I am finally caught up with my movie-watching and reviewing. I saw this Thursday night right after seeing this film's preceding movie, Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It proved to be a quality night in terms of watching films. After I post the plot description from the IMDb, the rest of the review is from Letterboxd. I'll return tomorrow night.

The plot description from the IMDb: “A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth's dominant species.” I have no idea what most people know of the movie being going in. I really knew nothing. I never saw a trailer and only saw bits of some TV ads. Hopefully the plot description doesn't spoil anything for the common person.

Seeing Rise of... on the big screen right before this was helpful, as what happens during the end credits of Rise dovetails right into the beginning of this film.

I'll be honest and say that I managed to avoid very well just about all information concerning the movie. I don't know how but I did. I never saw a trailer and heck, I didn't even look up beforehand who was in the film so I was surprised when those name actors appeared. I did see the poster and parts of some commercials so I knew that there'd be monkeys riding black horses and that indeed did happen and in the movie it was as awesome as it sounded. There are definitely even more awesome moments you see the monkeys do that I won't spoil.

While the humans are fine characters and I have no complaints with their story, a lot more interesting and rich is the story involving Caesar and all of his followers and a concept horrifying to Creationists, that the apes end up not being all that different from mankind.

What an intoxicating mix that was created here between the engrossing stories and how they intersect, all the drama and surprises that happen, the look of the world that the apes created for themselves, and the outstanding performances from the CGI creatures, especially Caesar. Serkis topped even what he did in Rise. You really do care about all of those primates due to the effects and the characters themselves.

Now this is a summer blockbuster worth seeing and a rare sequel that clearly is better than what last preceded it, which is more a strong statement of how I think Dawn is one of the best films of the year and the hype surrounding it is not hot air.