Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes: A Movie Discussion
We've got a lot to say about Matt Reeves' simian sequel.
Remember how skeptical you were before Rise of the Planet of the Apes opened in 2011? It was hard not to be with the lingering taste of Tim Burton’s 2001 attempt to reboot Planet of the Apes still hanging around after a decade.
Matt Reeves and 20th Century Fox delivered the sequel, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, to wild success on almost every level you can imagine. The special effects are a triumph, critics lost their minds over the film, and it also managed to earn $710 million dollars at the box office when it was all said and done.
GFR’s own Brent totally loved the movie in his review, while Nick only strongly enjoyed it, and earlier today they got together to break it down.
The Humans
Brent: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is one of those movies that remind me why I love movies so much in the first place. You can dissect it on numerous different levels—thematically, the performances, the score, the special effects—and we’re going to. But at the same time, while I sat there in the theater watching, trying to break it down, I found myself completely sucked into the story onscreen. The characters, the narrative, everything just captures you in a way not a lot of movies do anymore.
Nick: I almost absolutely agree with that assessment for most of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes‘s runtime, but there were those moments that made me very aware of where I was and what I was watching. And I don’t want to ruin it for everyone or get a target printed on my forehead, but Gary Oldman‘s character had a lot to do with why this wasn’t a great film for me, merely a very, very good one.
Brent: I agree with you on Oldman, he is the weak link. But I think I was kind of expecting that. I read the prequel novel (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm) in which his character, Dreyfus, figures prominently. Even there, even on the page, he’s single note and boring, though less over the top. So I was preprogrammed to completely ignore him. And was glad to do it.
With the glaring exception of Oldman, however, the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes cast and characters were a pleasant surprise. The script does a fantastic job of squeezing a lot of characterization into a short space. We don’t get a ton of backstory and details, but we do get to watch these people and apes and learn about them like that, not through some collection of facts about their past. Their actions tell you what you need to know about them.
Nick: I don’t know if I would have liked Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (or if this movie could have ever existed) if this involved two groups of humans, because the characterization is so rote, though not as embarrassing as other blockbuster characters. I think because the apes were such a marvel to watch, that it allowed me to deal with the humans going through the predictable motions.
I really like Jason Clarke in anything, regardless of if he’s a passive or active character. I think Brotherhood could have been even better if his other brother was an ape.
Brent: Everything is better with an ape brother.
Nick: If, in the third movie, Ellie (Keri Russell) runs away with Caesar, the ape leader played by Andy Serkis, I would pay to watch them bone in 3D. Perversions aside, I quite like Russell as a grown actress, even though her character suffers the worst amount of shortchanging the plot has to offer.
Brent: But even though she is, admittedly, short changed, there’s more going on. Or perhaps more accurately, she brings more to the part than similar characters in other blockbuster movies. Maybe that’s what I’m trying to get at, that even though these aren’t always the deepest, most thorough characters, they still managed, for me at least, to be more than they could have been.
Nick: Ha-ha, I’m pretty sure that last part was deeper than her character. I’ll concede that almost everyone involved in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was able to enhance information-free scenes better than less capable actors. And dammit, why didn’t Oldman tone it down to everyone else’s level? Was this part written for Nicolas Cage?
The Apes
[Ed.This starts out with both Nick and Brent chanting SERKIS! SERKIS! SERKIS! You don’t need to read that part. You get it, they like Caesar.]
Brent: From the very first time you see the apes, that extreme close up of Caesar’s eyes, you can’t help but marvel at them. They’re the heart of the movie aesthetically, but also from character and thematic perspectives.
Nick: Not for a single second did I ever disbelieve that I was watching a bunch of genetically modified apes creating their own society. Knowing that this will soon be their planet, we as an audience don’t necessarily need to decide whether we’re rooting for the humans or for the apes. We just have to decide whether or not this story has justified their superiority, and it’s abundantly clear, even if it’s spelled out through subtitles and simplistic ape language.
I hate that it came down to “that one asshole” who ruined a good thing for everyone, but for me, that allowed us to watch the ape community react to conspiracy, treachery, and betrayal, very human traits that they hadn’t had to deal with before. That doesn’t happen in movies often.
The Direction
Nick: I needed the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes special effects to be good to overshadow the story, and it worked all the way. Whatever my issues with the story, it’s a gorgeous film that was made for the big screen. I never go 3D, is it worth it?
Brent: I don’t think it’s 100% necessary, but Reeves actually uses the technology very well, and I’m not a 3D fan, it’s completely overused and usually adds nothing to a movie. In Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, however, there’s a nice depth of field that just brings another layer of immersion to this world. Especially during action scenes like that first scene, where the apes are hunting in the redwoods.
The way it’s filmed as the apes swing from branch, and the way Reeves moves the camera when them as they move, it places you right there and makes you feel like you’re right with them, along for the proverbial ride.
My guess is that comes across in any format, but the 3D does accentuate it.
Nick: I believe that. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes never loses that sense of depth, but everything involving the ape community is just so awe-inspiring.
The shot with the camera on the tank was right up there with the Joker hanging out of the car window, in terms of detached moments of horrific beauty.
Brent: I love that Dawn of the Planet of the Apes scene where the humans look out and see the apes surrounding their settlement for the first time. That image is absolutely harrowing.
The Story
Nick: It’s like, I knew what was coming, because the story deemed it so, but I wanted everything to go wrong on the human end of things, while the apes’ home stayed intact. I mean seriously, they built all that in 10 years.
Brent: That’s a good point. You always knew where the story was going, that this fragile peace was doomed to fail in spectacular fashion, but you’re connected enough to the apes that the predictability never really detracts from your investment.
Nick: It has to be said how well Toby Kebbell (Koba) and Karin Konoval (Maurice), and even Judy Greer (Cornelia) do as their respective apes, most with very little dialogue. Koba is hardly Hans Gruber as far as villains go, but those facial expressions are all anyone needs to know about him, and Maurice is the most cuddly “please be my best friend” character in sci-fi history.
The Score
Nick: I feel like something could be said about Michael Giacchino’s score. It’s incredible, though I mostly mean for the first half. He goes a little overboard when everything went haywire in the latter portions of the movie.
Brent: For me it was another piece of the puzzle that went into creating the larger picture. It’s one of those elements that you don’t really notice as it is happening, even though it plays a key part in setting the mood and tone. Again, for the first part. You’re right bout it getting over the top during the climactic scenes and comes off of the rails.
Biggest Plus
Brent: The real magic of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is that you forget you’re watching special effects. Eventually you’re just watching and reacting to the characters and the story.
Nick: My favorite part, which I can’t believe we didn’t go over, was the huge fire-and-horseback action sequence, which was the highlight of my summer movie going. And it’s because the special effects have rendered these apes so believably that watching them attack a bunch of innocent humans with guns was flabbergasting. It made me feel less politically weird than the movie’s presumed “gun message” did.
Biggest Minus
Brent: While I didn’t have as much of an issue with the human side of things, they definitely could, and should, have been more developed.
Nick: I’ve already mentioned my problems with the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes story, I don’t feel like I’m being a stickler by saying my biggest pet peeve about this movie was that Gary Oldman’s plan in the end did absolutely nothing to further his cause or help out the human situation in any way.
He wanted to kill the monkeys by blowing up the tower, yet he managed to only kill a few, while also destroying the human’s habitat and getting an entire nation of apes pissed off at all humans in the process. Way to go, dickhead. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that the family he’s crying about in that one scene had left him long before the flu killed everyone.
Brent: I understand the impulse to blow it all to hell, but yeah, that was just fucking stupid.
Nick: I get why the character thought it was a good idea, I guess. It just pisses me off that it made it into the third act of an otherwise intelligent movie. Third acts are the pits.
In the end, unlike ape and man, we can look past our disagreements about certain issues, and still enjoy this film together.
