Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Review

In a summer of sequels and franchise entries, a few stand above the rest. I wisely omitted myself from any theaters playing some of the rubbish that has recently been released. If I really want to subject myself to another Michael Bay Transformers film, I'll do it with a rented copy. No, I'm preserving my money for trips to the theater that I feel will really be worth it. This summer, I've been smart. I haven't seen a movie I didn't like yet. And when this sequel to the 2011 sleeper hit reboot of the Planet of the Apes franchise rolled around, I not only jumped at the chance to see it in theaters, I reserved my ticket for a Thursday night showing. Because these are the types of films that I want to support; big summer blockbusters that have a brain, a heart, and actually take the time to develop characters and plot. Dawn is one of the best films of the year.

As I said, this is the sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which came out in 2011, and took everyone by surprise. It was actually really good. It rebooted a long dormant franchise, and actually made it something mainstream audiences wanted to pay to see. It experienced modest success at the box office, received a positive response from critics and fans, and it was one of my favorite movies of that year. Thus, I was eagerly looking forward to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. And it didn't disappoint. I loved just about every minute of this movie. Everything from the bleak tone, the razor-sharp tension, the breathtaking action sequences. It was pretty much perfect.

Andy Serkis doesn't get the credit he deserves. He is a master with motion capture. Gollum, King Kong, and Caesar are testaments to this mastery. His performance in Dawn builds upon the one in Rise, bringing even more complexity and personality to the character. He really is the heart of this film, he ultimately is the one driving it at its center. It's a remarkable performance, one we can only hope and pray will be recognized by the Academy, something yet to be done for Andy Serkis.

James Franco has been replaced by Jason Clarke and Gary Oldman as the main human characters. I'm usually not a fan of Franco, but he did a pretty good job in Rise. Clarke has a similar role in Dawn as Franco did, and he did just as well, maybe even a little better. And Gary Oldman is, well, Gary Oldman. He's never had a bad performance in his life. I would've liked his character to have a little more development, but that's a small complaint.

Dawn is a tense movie. That's actually a pretty big understatement. Right from the start, I felt on the edge of my seat. You feel at any moment, the crap could hit the fan and the humans and apes could begin all-out war. But the movie's smart. It doesn't make two thirds of the film a war. It reserves the big, blockbuster-worthy action scenes for later in the movie. It sets up the world in which it takes place. It establishes tone. It develops its characters. It makes you care about what's going on. This is something a lot of summer movies miss. And that's one thing I loved about Dawn. 

As the movie creates the world and the characters its based upon, the tension rises. The apes and the humans don't like each other. At least, some apes and some humans don't like each other. Koba - who you may remember as the ape who wrote "Jacobs", and later killed the character Jacobs in the last movie - thinks the humans want to start a war with the apes. In turn, he believes an invasion of the human colony is necessary to expunge any threat to the apes' home. Caesar, who is the leader of the apes, instead begins to form a relationship with Jason Clarke's character, Malcolm. He begins to trust the humans. But, as much as both Malcolm and Caesar would like peace between humans and apes, it just isn't meant to be. A war is inevitable.

This movie is morally challenging. Similar to The Dark Knight, it asks the audience some pretty difficult moral questions. It dares them to decide what they would do in this situation. When a movie does this, it provides a whole new dynamic to it. As Dawn progresses, you begin to see it isn't black and white for either side. There are some significant shades of gray to consider.

During the third act, which is basically the fighting between the apes and the humans, I felt there was a small stretch of time where the plot was taking backseat to the action. Yes, the action was really cool to watch, but I believe that action should simply be a driving force for the plot. This is something that this movie, and its predecessor, understand. But for maybe a 5 minute period of time in Dawn, I thought the action was going on for a bit too long. Again, that's a pretty minor complaint, though.

I loved this movie. It is an improvement over its predecessor, a pretty extraordinary feat considering just how much I enjoyed the first one. It's darker, both in tone and story. It's more mature in its storytelling. And it's also just more entertaining and overall a better movie. Dawn is this franchise's Dark Knight, its Empire Strikes Back. It takes what was good about the first one, makes it even better, and adds a lot more to the mix. If you're looking for a movie to see this weekend, forgo Transformers 4, skip Tammy and Deliver Us from Evil. Go to see this. Support good filmmaking. One of the best movies of 2014, and one of the best summer blockbusters to come around in years.

Conclusion 

Thanks to spectacular special effects, a smart script, and yet another captivating performance by Andy Serkis, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a superior sequel, managing to be both exhilarating and emotionally powerful. This is a movie that I will buy the day it is released to home media. Truly worth a trip to the theater or two as well. 

A