Jason Clarke is solid and earnest as the nominal leader of the more liberal section of the human contingent, Malcolm, and Keri Russell does what she needs to as Ellie, Malcolm’s partner (any love interest is played down to the point of wondering whether they are together or not). The humans inevitably fare less well in the performance stakes but to be honest, they are merely bit part players beside the wonderful roster of apes. It’s very difficult to judge where Andy Serkis ends and Caesar’s digital self begins but all else being equal, it’s a truly impressive performance and one that has rightly led to questions about qualifications for awards. I swear at times, I could actually smell the soaking fur on the backs of the apes the effects are that good. By the time the humans show up, you’ve completely bought the apes and don’t for a second differentiate between the special effects on screen and the human actors. The other major achievement of the opening sequence is that it quickly gets you used to the incredibly clever CGI and makeup used to render the animals in the movie. Dawn you see is very definitely not putting the humans first, this is the apes time and the entire film moves forward from this surprisingly effective angle.
It’s an impressive start for two reasons one, it really will knock your socks off with its brutal, soaking fur detail and two, it kicks the whole film off by spending time with the apes. CGI animals thunder across the screen as they fly through the air and through the forest, culminating in a fight between Caesar’s son Blue Eyes and a superbly rendered bear. A deer hunt is signalled as the apes line the trees above the hapless animals and all hell breaks loose. By this stage, the apes have learned to sign and have started to embrace spoken language, much to the astonishment of the humans.ĭawn really does start in spectacular fashion. The apes peace and quiet in their King Kong-esque spiky fenced village of course cannot last and soon the remnants of mankind pitch up accidentally on their doorstep, desperate to get a nearby hydroelectric dam up and running having exhausted their nuclear and petrol fuel supplies. A brief montage of news footage over the opening credits fills us in on the genetically created plague that has wiped out the majority of mankind sense Rise, leaving the planet seemingly empty for the immune apes. Brought to us by promising Cloverfield and Let Me In helmer Matt Reeves, this one picks up with Caesar’s now expanded ape tribe, living peacefully and chasing down prey in spectacular fashion where nature has taken back the outskirts of San Francisco. Three years (real time) and ten winters (movie time) later, we wash up at Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
Having said that, I haven’t watched it since and the majority of the details escape me, barring the knowledge that Andy Serkis’ Caesar was last seen fleeing for the hills.
I’m not sure I got the best out of it on the tiny screen but it lingered in my mind for long enough to make me think that the series had legs despite Tim Burton’s overwrought and over complicated reboot. To the point that I only watched it because I was stuck on a transatlantic flight. Rise of the Planet of the Apes kind of took me by surprise.