Planet Of the Apes Review

The Dawn of the planet of the Apes is a sequel to the popular ‘Rise of the Planet of the apes’ which is a good reboot of the original franchise. This film differs from the first as where the original was less action oriented and focused more on the story of Caesar, who is the main protagonist of both films. This film differs as it is told after the events of the first film where humanity has already mostly collapsed and only fleeting splinters of them remain, as well as the now escaped apes roaming the forests.

The story is engaging and has good plot development and strong characters; the highlight for me was Caesar who was played by Andy Serkis. The character is the most intelligent of the apes and is their leader; he interacts well with the humans as he is the only chimp who seems to take pity on them to an extent. There was a lot of vital commentary on the futility of war and violent conflict, the film does not expect you to pick sides too easily as hostility between the last few remaining humans on earth and the intelligent apes arise.

They do a good job of showing both good and characters on both sides as to make it not a straight good and baddie story. The conflict spins more and more into chaos, and there is little anyone can do. As in the previous film the CGI is incredible, with credit to motion capture acting and the accompanying special effects. The gloomy post-apocalyptic atmosphere and great cinematography all adds up to an intelligent and entertaining continuation of the story.

The ending was somewhat disappointing as I felt it did not bring the whole movie together so much as to leave you on a cliff-hanger in anticipation for the third film. The basic plot was somewhat simple; it did not deviate from a fairly standard Hollywood formula. Though this is forgiven in light of the other aspects of the film which make the whole package a good blockbuster and thoroughly enjoyable.