Dawn of The Planet of The Apes Review.

Dawn of The Planet of The Apes

Director: Matt Reeves
Stars: Andy Serkis, Tony Kebbell, Jason Clarke, Kerri Russell, Gary Oldman, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Nick Thurston, Karin Konoval, Larramie Doc Shaw, Jon Eyez and Kirk Acevedo.
Running Time: 130 mins
Release: 19 August 2014

Ten years after the events of Rise of The Planet of The Apes, humanity has been decimated by the Simian flu. Caesar (Serkis) and his fellow apes now live in the forest not too far from San Francisco living a peaceful and nomadic existence. Some of the dwindling humans are living in the remains of San Francisco struggling to find power they are governed by Dreyfus (Oldman) a man who's struggling to keep his people calm.

After a incident in the forest Malcolm (Clarke) meets Caesar the ape leader and is fascinated by him and believes that he can reason with him and that they can live in harmony together by restoring power to the generator which is in the Ape's land. Though there's individuals on both sides who threaten to break their fragile alliance and cause an all out bloody war.

Andy Serkis returns as Caesar a much more mature chimpanzee who's now the leader of the apes as he's the most intelligent and advanced of them due to the Alzheimer's experiment he went through in Rise as he can speak english and use sign language of which he has started teaching the other apes. It's because of this there's still some part of him which trusts humanity as he can see the the good. Unlike others who only saw the bad. He is a family man now. He's very intelligent, reserved, thoughtful, strong, brave and a brilliant leader. The special effects that are used to create him and the other apes is astounding. You can see Serkis resemblance in Caesar it's outstanding. The eyes look incredible

It's an incredible performance and Serkis should be nominated for best actor. He expresses a wide range of emotions in this film from anger, sadness and love. You can't help but feel for him. His chemistry with Koba (Kebbell) and Malcolm is brilliant and make some of the best scenes in the film. He develops a friendship with Malcolm as he sees he is a good man like Will (James Franco) was in Rise and begins to trust humanity again much to the disgust of Koba. I can honestly say it's the best performance that I have seen this year. I also love the way he speaks too.

Just as brilliant as Serkis is the scene stealing chimpanzee Koba played by Toby Kebbell. At the start of the film Koba starts off as a anti-hero and later on a villain of which I won't go into as I may spoil it for you. Early on you feel sympathy for Koba as you know what he suffered in Rise. It's really up to you if you feel the same towards him later on but I certainly don't. From the get go he's a bigot he hates humans completely and is blind to see the good in them. He distrusts them absolutely. He does not have to say a single word as you can see the evil and hatred expressed in his face it's really rather scary especially the scene where he encounters two humans in the armoury the look on his face, my god. He also knows how to toy with his fellow apes and humans.

I was honestly surprised by Kebbell's performance of Koba it's outstanding and he plays him with such a ferocious intensity of the likes I have never ever seen before. Both in the way he looks and the way he speaks. It speaks volumes. I have to say he's villain of the year and deserves a best supporting actor nomination. He's embittered, intelligent, angry, ferocious, scary, violent, jealous and self preserving and I absolutely love to hate him.

Jason Clarke plays Malcolm a family man who's lost his wife in the Simian flu outbreak and now looks after his son Alexander (Smit-McPhee). He's one of the few humans that we see that hold no prejudices against the apes. He does not fear nor hate them. He's rather fascinated by them especially Caesar. He strongly believes that the two species can get along and live in harmony and help each other. He's a lot more bold and daring than the other humans in this film by going it alone at one point to speak to Caesar.

Their friendship early on in the film is very fragile and treads a fine line which makes some really tense scenes. Not much is said about what happened to Malcolm in the past only that he and Dreyfus founded the sanctuary where the humans live. Being honest I don't feel it's that important. He also has a relationship with Ellie (Kerri Russell) which is not overdone I am pleased to say as this film is equally about the apes as it is the humans. Clarke gives an outstanding performance in this film and he really has some great scenes in this film.

Kerri Russell plays Ellie Malcolm's girlfriend and somewhat surrogate mother to Alexander. She supports Malcolm wholeheartedly in what he does and slowly warms to the apes herself as she's in the medical field and believes that she can help the apes along with Malcolm. Like I said before there relationship is not given much background and it doesn't need to be. She has very good chemistry with Clarke and she gives a great performance in this film.

Gary Oldman plays Dreyfus the human leader who's struggling to keep control. Depending on your viewpoint you may see Dreyfus as a villain as he's paranoid and does not like the apes because his two son's died in the Simian flu outbreak. But it's that element that makes you sympathise with him, well I did anyway. He blames the apes for their deaths. I don't see him as a villain, I see him as a misguided man who's been blinded by anger. How would he be if his son's didn't die in the outbreak, would he be a different man ?. He gives a brilliant performance in this film like Oldman does in all his films I have seen.

Kodi Smit-McPhee plays Alexander, Malcolm's son. Personally I find this character slightly underused in this film as he's not given much to do plot-wise aside helping his dad and getting along with the apes mostly Maurice (Konoval). He's good in this small role.

Nick Thurston plays Blue Eyes, Caesar's son. He's a very good character and he gets better the film develops and becomes a pivotal character later on in the film as he becomes torn between two sides. At one point in the film he becomes a foot soldier of which I compare him to a child soldier as he does not really want to do what he's doing, but doing it out of fear it's brilliant. He's fantastic in the role.

Karin Konoval plays Maurice an orang-utan who is my personal favourite supporting character in this. Maurice is a close friend and advisor to Caesar who is fiercely loyal to him. He loves reading books as he's learning to read. He also acts as a protector to the apes and at some point the humans as he can see the good in them. I really liked this character.

Larramie Doc-Shaw plays Ash a fellow chimp who's Blue Eyes friend who's involved in the incident at the start of the film. He becomes quite a pivotal characters in the second half of the film. He's a very good character and well acted too.

Jon Eyez plays Foster another human who eventually begins to sympathise and befriends the apes. At first he's not very fond of them and hesitant about them and what they will do but he soon grows on them. It's not a really big role but he's brilliant all the same and I love the scene of when thet meet a baby chimp and when they get the power back on and they listen to music I love the sheer expression of joy on his face.
 
Kirk Acevedo plays Carver the human equivalent of Koba he hates the apes completely and grows nothing towards them. He's a really hateful man and Acevedo is very good in the role. I recognised him from The Walking Dead as Mitch Dolgen and from The Darkness video game of which he voiced Jackie.

The score is done by the masterful Mitch Giacchino who's known for doing the score to Up. He does an outstanding job for the music on this I absolutely loved it. My favourite part being when Koba and some chimps visit San Francisco as that piece In particular evokes the feel of the music of the original film it's fantastic I also love the music in the battle scenes too. I have to say this soundtrack is an absolute must have along with the Stoker soundtrack.

Matt Reeves has done a stellar job making this film and I cannot write this review without mentioning WETA they have done a marvellous job on this film with their work on the apes. It's incredible. I can honestly say this is the best looking film that I have seen this year there's nothing quite like it. I really like The Last of Us feel to the film in scenes it's beautiful and I know they are making a Last film so Reeves is perfect for the Job. There's some absolutely beautiful scenes in this film and also some very raw ones too. Especially the battle scene about half way through the film which is the most horrifying battle scene I have ever seen it was like the D-Day with the apes going against the humans my hand was over my mouth throughout and who can forget that tank shot that was superb. The others I can't say without spoiling.

This film is incredibly thematic for a summer blockbuster film with: prejudices, peace, control, revenge, hate, betrayal, friendship, loyalty, love & war. Which makes this film incredibly relevant today. Just like that of the original film of which I personally feel it holds up to. It's a masterpiece in every sense of the word. And I honestly cannot wait for the next part of this prequel trilogy. I absolutely loved every minute of it.