There is fewer dialogue and exposition needed in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the long awaited sequel to 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and the film benefits greatly from it. While Rise was an exciting movie itself, with one of the best reboots of an old franchise in years, Dawn is a vast improvement, taking all the excitement of watching evolution flipped on it’s head and super-charging it with stunning physical performances – particularly from Andy Surkis (as Ceaser) and Toby Kebbell (as Koba) – and a decent human contingent, which includes Australian actor Jason Clarke (as Malcolm) and Gary Oldman (as Dreyfus).
Matt Reeves handles the film with confidence, following the lofty direction of Rupert Wyatt (who directed “Rise”) with a focus on sublime effects and fluid, expansive action scenes which take full advantage of the stark and chaotic post-apocalyptic set. Themes of solidarity, corruption, moral awareness, war, and peace are all handled with great depth, balancing all the impressive action sequences with smart dialogue and near-perfect pacing.
While the majority of the film is predictable, filled with warfare tropes, watching the escalating tension between apes and humans unfold brings all the excitement of a good disaster flick, and builds upon it with a plot much more emotionally involving and layered than similar genre films.
We leap ahead from the closing moments of “Rise”, introduced to a world where the majority of the human population is wiped out by a virulent plague to which very few are blessed with immunity. While the exact source of such immunity isn’t explored too well (see: at all) the film moves along with such an irresistible stride that any plot holes are instantly forgiven, filled in with enough development to involve you in both sides of the impending war.
During the time between the events of “Rise” and “Dawn”, the apes have edged closer to imitating many human competencies: sputtering the occasional English word (of which Ceaser and Koba are most able) in between fluid signing, handling weapons and objects with confidence, and even building an efficient, homely base within their claimed forest home in Muir Woods. On the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge, humans are reeling, their numbers dropping as rapidly as their resources while they desperately hope for enough energy to reach out to fellow survivors. Therein lies the crux of the conflict; the humans need to derive energy from the Muir Woods water source, taking a small group into the territory apes have appropriated for themselves.
The rudimentary society that the apes have built for themselves shows signs of progress far beyond the splintered community of humans, demonstrating the strength of solidarity and respect while panic and disorder plagues the city-side of the bridge. These moments, where we watch the apes evolve and interact with each other, is a very strong and memorable aspect of the film; making the first half much more than just build-up for the inevitable chain of action-packed, blockbuster greatness.
The scales of war and peace are explored nicely, with Koba’s myopic eye-for-an-eye view coupled with Carver’s (Kirk Acevdeo of Oz and Fringe fame) arrogance representing the regressive side of human nature. Ceaser and Malcolm do their best to wave the flag for peace, putting forth ideals of forgiveness and understanding as beacons of hope and the most effective weapons when fighting against death; but overly didactic films run the risk of scaring most of the audience away, and so things were always going to turn sour sooner or later.
Visual effect supervisor Joe Letteri leads the charge in pushing the boundaries of performance capture, handling effects with such stunning realism that it’s very difficult to distinguish between what is digital effect and what is real. The entire film is shot with an adventurous spirit, taking even the darkest scenes and sprucing them up with jaw-dropping, colorful visuals that really prod at your curiosity and inspire you to look past “Dawn” as just a blockbuster movie and view it as the work of art that it is.
Review Score: FOUR AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Running Time 130 Minutes
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is currently screening in cinemas worldwide
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