JULY 19 — Tell me you saw that coming. After the disaster that was Tim Burton’s Planet Of The Apes, tell me you expected that Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, directed by a more or less unknown Brit hot off the back of his debut film The Escapist, was going to be that good. At least I didn’t see that coming at all, even after taking into account how good I thought The Escapist was. The damage done by Tim Burton’s Planet Of The Apes was just too much, and you can even see it unfairly rubbing off on Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, which should’ve gotten more critical acclaim than it actually did when it was released in 2011.
But if you didn’t see that coming, then I’m pretty damn sure you didn’t see this coming too. This, Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes — a sequel to a reboot of a reboot — is something truly special. I’ve always thought that Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes was one of the best, if not the best, summer movie of 2011, alongside blockbusters like Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and X-Men: First Class.
But for the summer of 2014, and as much as I loved Godzilla, there really is only 1 challenger to the summer movie throne, which incidentally is also a brilliant sequel — How To Train Your Dragon 2. Other than that emotionally exhilarating and dragon-tastic adventure, I haven’t seen any summer movie this year that even comes close to the brilliance of Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes.
Let’s talk about the obvious reason first, the story. Taking place 10 years after Caesar freed the apes at the end of Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, the movie sets itself up with enough back story to ensure that absolutely no allegations of shallow character development or motivation can ever be levelled against it. The same drug that enhanced the intelligence of the apes in Rise has unleashed a virus and worldwide epidemic that almost decimated humans. The apes have built their own shelter in the redwoods of San Francisco and have so far enjoyed a peaceful life without any encroaching humans for the last few years.
Both have a deep-seated distrust, and in some cases, hatred, of each other. This tension between simply wanting peace and willing to do anything necessary to ensure the survival of one’s own ‘kind’ is what gives the film its resonance and power, as parallels can be drawn not only to racism and the civil rights movement, but even to the Israel-Palestine issue. But far from being a boring and preachy sermon, director Matt Reeves has brilliantly weaved all this into an emotionally powerful thriller that never forgets its first job as a summer blockbuster — to provide us with entertainment and spectacle.
Then there is the matter of the brilliant motion capture CGI for the apes by Weta Digital, which probably reached its apex here with not only Andy Serkis’ breathtaking performance as Caesar, but also Toby Kebbell’s frightening performance as Koba and Karin Konoval’s wonderfully gentle Maurice. If there’s still a reason to deny a motion capture performance with an Oscar nomination in the acting categories after the overwhelming excellence that can be seen here, then I’d really like to know what that reason is. In fact, Serkis’ performance here may finally be the reason why the Oscars may finally nominate him Best Actor come the Oscars next year. Yes, it really is that groundbreaking.
The less obvious reason is director Matt Reeves, who first made a name for himself with Cloverfield and then with Let Me In (a remake that can stand toe to toe with the Swedish original, Let The Right One In). Cloverfield being a found footage movie, I couldn’t really gauge where he’s at in terms of directing philosophy, but Let Me In revealed a director unafraid to shoot scenes in fluid long takes instead of the safe choice of shooting as much coverage as possible and figuring it all out later during the editing stage.
He’s proved that again here with many elegantly staged scenes shot in one long take, none more spectacular than a POV (point-of-view) shot from the top of a tank during a fierce battle between the apes and the humans. See it for yourself and marvel at the balls that Reeves has to even want to pull that stunt off.
If there’s one complaint that you can make against the film, it is that the humans are again largely colorless. But that has been the case ever since the Apes franchise began 46 years ago, and the fact that the word ‘human’ has never been included in any of the titles of the 8 films that have made up the franchise so far should already be enough clue to all. After 46 years and on its eighth film, Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes simply have no right to be this good. But it is that damn good. Not only is it a great Apes film, it’s a great sci-fi film, period. With the benefit of hindsight, it may even turn out to be a great film.
*This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
