Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Movie Review

In 2011, the Planet of the Apes series was rebooted with great success, resulting in one of the best films in the series. Three years on and a sequel “Dawn” has managed to continue this trend effortlessly, resulting in another brilliant summer blockbuster.

DOTPOTA picks up a few years after Rise with the human race all but wiped out as a result of the deadly simian flu. In the years since the virus began to spread, Caesar’s clan of apes has gone from strength to strength, having built a home in Muir Woods near San Francisco whilst the humans struggle in the city ruins. In the midst of the growing discontent, newcomer Malcolm (Jason Clarke) and his family (Keri Russel and Kodi Smit-McPhee) lead a team into the forests in a desperate bid to calm the tensions. Where the first film focused on build-up, Dawn goes to great lengths to employ tension, greatly raising the stakes in the process. It only takes one misstep from the humans or one error from the apes to ignite the fires of war and this is constantly emphasised through several close calls across the film’s narrative. Yet despite the increased emphasis on action and a struggle for power, the film never forgets the emotion that made the first film so memorable; the highlight of these comes in a particularly heartfelt scene which ties Dawn with its predecessor beautifully. Mix in new themes such as the importance of family and mankind’s reliance on technology and you have a plot just as engaging as the original film.

The new characters may possess quite a bit of screen-time but really it is Caesar (Andy Serkis) who is the star of the show; as the leader of the apes, he struggles to keep the peace amongst the humans and his own kind as well as being constantly at odds with the violent Koba (Toby Kebbel). On top of this Caesar is also bound to his family, which leads to even more emotion being conveyed. In fact the apes as a whole are given plentiful amounts of development this time around; it’s a real treat to see how they interact and communicate through sign language throughout the film. The human characters are also well done; main man Malcolm may not have too much of a back story but Clarke nonetheless does a good job of picking up from James Franco; Malcolm also has a family at stake and it’s this trait which provides another strong bond between him and Caesar. Gary Oldman is also great as Dreyfus; a kind of pseudo-antagonist and the de-facto leader of the humans. He wants to eliminate the apes from the picture but at the same time he only wants to save his own kind and rebuild the world, providing an interesting moral dilemma to his character. The only real drawback to the casting is similar to the last film; some of the human characters could have been much more memorable if they had more screen-time to develop and contribute to the overall plot.

Dawn maintains the reboot’s brilliant use of motion capture with even more apes on screen at once and significantly more expression being shown. You can feel the emotions of the apes when trouble comes their way. A greater atmosphere is built over the proceedings with the often harsh weather and the overgrown ruins of San Francisco, perfectly complimenting the disaster that has swept over the planet. This goes hand-in-hand with the editing which is once again stellar, providing a clear view of both the emotion on the faces and the action in the setting. The music used in the film is often slow and sombre, giving off a sense of sadness that permeates the endless struggles of the characters, but it also finds time to emphasise the beauty of the more intimate moments, proving that although tension exists between man and ape, cooperation and harmony can rise again. If you were impressed with first film’s technical presentation, Dawn won’t disappoint one bit.

Every bit as good as its predecessor, DOTPOTA is one of the best films of the summer, pushing the story forward whilst going into much more depth on the ape characters. You’d be doing yourself a great disservice by missing it.

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars