Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Dustin: 4 of 5 stars Nick: 3.5 of 5 stars Average: 3.75 of 5 stars (Live canary)

Dustin: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a sequel to the Planet of the Apes prequel, Rise of the Planet of the Apes. A decade after the events in Rise, the apes have multiplied while most of humanity has been wiped out by the “simian flu.” The super intelligent apes fear the human survivors and attack the nearby human city of San Francisco--and the term “gorilla warfare” takes on a chilling reality.

Nick: The motion capture acting by Andy Serkis as Caesar and Toby Kebbell as Koba is something to behold. The look of those two apes is some of the best CGI ever represented on film. There is life in their eyes which is something my brother (who works with CGI) thinks is the most amazing thing he has seen with the technology.

Dustin: Agreed completely. Caesar’s eyes were lifelike and sympathetic. You never felt like they were creepy or lifeless. Has CGI come out of the other side of the uncanny valley? (Granted, Serkis played an ape and not a CGI human, so there was less room for uncanniness.) Serkis is great in his third outing as an ape (the first being the title role in Peter Jackson’s King Kong).

Nick: By contrast, the human characters register as flat. Beyond Jason Clarke as Malcolm (the lead human role) no human gets any introspection. This shows the difference between the old films and the new. Although the old films had kind apes, the sympathy and understanding lies with the humans. In the new films the sympathy lies with the apes.

Dustin: This film made you feel a bit odd rooting for the apes (most of the time). You’re like, “Wait… who’s side am I on?” But I think that is a strength of Serkis’s performance (as well as the intention of the film). You’re right Malcolm, who is sympathetic toward the apes, was the only human who got a lot of attention. There were the apes on one side, the humans on the other, and Malcolm in the middle. I don’t really remember the other humans, just that there were a few interchangeable bad ones, and Gary Oldman played a small, but important role.

Nick: The reason the film doesn’t rate so high for me is that a lot of the story is driven from misunderstanding. This doesn’t make the film bad in any way. Many films and other forms of media are like that, but it’s something that has always irritated me. The humans let the guy who is obviously scared shitless of the apes and hated them lead them at the beginning of the film to where the two species meet once again. This moment begins the film, and the whole film constantly turns the sequence into something that makes no sense.

Dustin: What didn’t make sense about it? I think at the beginning they weren’t really expecting to run into too many apes. And they had a reason to fear and hate them: the “simian flu” had wiped out most of humanity. So they figured any contact with apes was dangerous.

Nick: Why was the character all alone? The other humans were all together, but away from him.  For some reason they seem to have known that guy for a long time, but when he mentions later about his hatred for apes they all act in disgust towards him. Like how could that guy possibly be so hateful towards apes?

Dustin: I didn’t they they were too disgusted with him. I think they treated him like he acted rashly, but his speciesism didn’t seem to bother anyone other than Malcolm.

Nick: Why was the character alone? He seemed so afraid to let himself get separated from the group.

Dustin: I don’t think he was alone, I think he just walked ahead. But I don’t think this was such a huge deal that it ruined a good movie.

Nick: In the context of the scene he is alone. Walking ahead is being separated from the group. Why would someone who is so afraid be separated? The fact he had to call for the group when he ran into the apes means he was alone. I didn’t say it ruined it, but that there are many moments of misunderstanding that drive the film forward. It’s something that just gets to me.

Dustin: You’re right that all the conflict comes from misunderstandings rather than real problems. You want to tell the characters, “Just sit and talk about it.” But then, the movie would be over and it would be very boring.

Nick: The film made the misunderstandings half-right though. If a misunderstanding from the humans was cleared up, then one human would have a misunderstanding of the apes. Then once one apes cleared up the misunderstanding, Koba would whisper in Caesar’s ear and there would be another misunderstanding. All I’m saying is that a film can be entertaining without misunderstandings.

Dustin: One detail in the film made me roll my eyes. Once the apes get their hands on the guns, they go ape shit and start shooting up everything. I wondered how the apes learned so quickly how to use military-grade weapons. And the way they were wasting ammo, they would deplete their supply pretty quickly, and that would be the end of their “rise.” They literally shot at everything, even when there were no humans about. I think the filmmakers just wanted loud noises. Before long, the apes would have to go back to throwing their own poop (which I would have liked because it’s more realistic--the producers can have that idea for free).

Nick: Especially when one ape shoots one single bullet from quite a distance right into another ape’s heart. Bullseye! It’s weird how much the apes and humans wasted bullets. The humans waste so many bullets while training they won’t have any for the war.

Dustin: Those details aside, I think this was a well-made movie that was entertaining without being insulting to the audience’s intelligence.

Nick: The franchise made a right move by hiring director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In), who seems to like films showing one species against another. Reeves has a great eye for shots. The opening of the film is a shot focused on a close up of Caesar’s face. Which is immediately showing how much attention they put to that detail. Another great choice is axing James Franco and bringing in Jason Clarke, who has such a great emotional range even when all he is doing is looking at something (which he does a lot).