Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

I would not call myself a huge Planet of the Apes fan. The first film is a classic, the rest of the original movies are average at best, Tim Burton's film was entertaining, but it was 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes that ignited my interest in the series. The film had an excellent story to tell about how an experimental Alzheimer's drug could lead to world takeover by super-intelligent apes. It was suspenseful, exciting, and a real thrill to watch. Plus, it had some great performances from James Franco, John Lithgow, and Andy Serkis as Caesar, the leader of the Apes. Rise was one of my favorite films of the year, and when I found out a sequel would be coming out, I was understandably excited. I awaited a bigger, more action-packed movie than Rise that would hopefully give me more of what I loved about its predecessor. Now, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes showcases some quality special effects and action, but it is far too pompous, self-important, and generic for my liking.

The movie is a post-apocalyptic story told both from the human and ape point-of-view. The apes do have a somewhat interesting story; particularly a dramatic betrayal between to two ape leaders that works very well. Andy Serkis gives another great motion capture performance as Caesar and Toby Kebbell plays the scarred bonobo Koba well. The human actors manage to give the apes a good dose of emotion while remaining believably animal. Unfortunately, the human characters in this movie have nothing interesting to do, and not one of them is at all interesting as a character. The post-apocalyptic story is as generic as it gets, pitting a band of survivors against the odds in a struggle to get power to the city. It is the type of broad "post-apocalyptic" story that seems like it was lifted straight from an episode of The Walking Dead. You would think there would be more imagination and ideas for a future where apes rule the world, but there is no such thing here. It is the same band of survivors schtick we see in every cheap zombie apocalypse movie/show nowadays. Gary Oldman chews the scenery like nobody else, but he can't save the humans in this movie from feeling utterly dull and pointless.

Thankfully, the apes take center stage, and while their story is more interesting than the humans', the seriousness of the whole thing is often laughable. It is basically Hamlet in digital monkey costumes. A lot has been said about the "performances" of Serkis and Kebbell, and yes, they are able to convincingly embody the ultra- intelligent, emotional apes. It is an impressive balancing act, but whenever one of them was on screen, I couldn't help but feel like I was being presented an effect; like the actors were trying to show me how much they could act under the digital makeup.

Even with top-notch special effects and a great set of action set pieces, I was disappointed by Dawn. The film had potential to takes us to a brand new, ape-dominated world, and sometimes it does. The ape's forest city is beautiful, realistic and imaginative, but it, like all of the great elements of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is overshadowed by a painfully generic post-apocalyptic story and frustratingly pretentious tone. The tone of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is dark, which can definitely be a good thing for a movie like this, but director Matt Reeves lathers the drama and grittiness on so much that he forgets to entertain. Instead of simply taking the story seriously, the film takes itself seriously.

That, in itself, is the problem with the movie. It thinks it is an important, world- changing drama, when in fact it is not. It's a glorified Last of Us ripoff, masquerading as a Shakespearian tragedy. The action is great, but the tone never wavers from the absolute dead serious. It's a shame because I loved the balance in tone that the Wyatt's Rise of the Planet of the Apes had. It was dark and scary, but it had real heart and the action was actually fun. Even though I enjoyed the effects and action, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is just too generic, too bland, and far too serious for me to recommend over its highly superior predecessor.