Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is the successor for the highly regarded reboot to the Planet of the Apes franchise. This time we catch up with the apes and humans as it has been almost a decade since the virus spread throughout the world, and a small number of humans still remain trying to survive in San Francisco. In order to keep their city with power, they must reach a dam in the forest to switch the power. Only thing standing in their way are those intelligent apes led by Caesar. Caesar knows that not all humans are bad, but in order to help them, he must trust only a couple, but it is hard to find those humans to trust. It is also hard to trust your own as well.
This movie is what summer blockbusters are all about, because it can be an action popcorn flick, but also have a great story with terrific performances. Sure, you’re not going to get an explosion every five seconds like you will in Transformers 4, but you get a movie with a lot of heart, intelligence, and characters you actually root for.
Andy Serkis shows you just why his the king of motion capture. Even though we are seeing a CG ape, you root for him, and you feel for him. The performance is all Andy Serkis, and it is Oscar-worthy. And keeping on the motion capture, it is truly amazing, and the detail in all the apes makes you believe they used actual apes in this movie.
Matt Reeves takes over the captain’s chair in this sequel, and man was he the right director for the job. This is a beautiful piece of film, and every shot you can tell was fully thought out, and the tone was realized perfectly. There is no crazy shaky cam, no unnecessary swoops and pans, just 100% beautiful filmmaking at its best.
Jason Clarke, Keri Russell, and Gary Oldman, also give formidable performances, and you care about their characters, but nothing beats Serkis in the movie. Guarantee you there will get a lump forming in your throat throughout the movie, so be prepared for that.
If you enjoyed the first movie, you will definitely enjoy this movie. It is the Empire Strikes Back of the rebooted franchise. It is the Dark Knight of the rebooted franchise. I’m interested to see where they take it for the third flick, and I want to know what you guys thought about it. Also check out my video review below to hear me ramble on about it. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes this Summer’s best movie so far.