When was the last time you were watching a big budget summer blockbuster and in the first fifteen minutes, the characters and their relationships were established without any spoken dialogue, all while keeping your interest? "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" had the difficult task of telling a serious, live action, relatable, human story, despite most of its main characters being apes. This was a technical challenge because they needed to use motion capture technology to transform tons of human actors into realistic looking apes with believable movements, yet the performances of the actors playing the apes and the CGI are both incredibly natural most of the time. This was a narrative challenge because they needed to find out the best way to communicate the thoughts of the apes, yet they managed to make their actions speak for them and their few words hold so much more weight. This was a financial challenge because of the high budget needed to make the film and the general publics willingness to read subtitles, yet they managed to keep them engaged.
Again and again, Matt Reeves continued to exceed my expectations with this film, not only making me genuinely care about a bunch of apes, but by telling a smart allegorical tale about racism, war, and technology's role in humanity. You don't have to see the first film in order to see this one, since all the exposition you need is cut together in a clever montage showing the downfall of humanity and the rise of the apes, allowing this film to stand on its own. After humanity began to fall from the virus, the apes became independent in the forest and began living creating their own civilization, while, unbeknownst to them, a group of immune humans lives near by, trying to restore their civilization by holding the belief that electricity will help them get back to the place they were before. When the last resort to power their city is by using water, they are forced to come into contact with the apes that are living on the dam, and tensions begin to arise.
The visceral, emotional climax of this film is incredibly shot, with many long tracking or panning shots showing the all out pandemonium happening around them, as well as an intense, hand to hand fight scene, all done with almost entirely CGI characters.
The film delves surprisingly deep into the origins and hypocrisy of war, showing how preconceived notions start fear and hostility, which fosters more fear and hostility, which blinds one side from the good people in the opposing group, and blinds one group from the bad people in their own group. It also shows how even the possession of weapons just causes more paranoia, causing the other group to feel the need to protect themselves with weapons, pulling both groups further and further apart from each other, despite how similar they may be.
Again and again, Matt Reeves continued to exceed my expectations with this film, not only making me genuinely care about a bunch of apes, but by telling a smart allegorical tale about racism, war, and technology's role in humanity. You don't have to see the first film in order to see this one, since all the exposition you need is cut together in a clever montage showing the downfall of humanity and the rise of the apes, allowing this film to stand on its own. After humanity began to fall from the virus, the apes became independent in the forest and began living creating their own civilization, while, unbeknownst to them, a group of immune humans lives near by, trying to restore their civilization by holding the belief that electricity will help them get back to the place they were before. When the last resort to power their city is by using water, they are forced to come into contact with the apes that are living on the dam, and tensions begin to arise.
The visceral, emotional climax of this film is incredibly shot, with many long tracking or panning shots showing the all out pandemonium happening around them, as well as an intense, hand to hand fight scene, all done with almost entirely CGI characters.
The film delves surprisingly deep into the origins and hypocrisy of war, showing how preconceived notions start fear and hostility, which fosters more fear and hostility, which blinds one side from the good people in the opposing group, and blinds one group from the bad people in their own group. It also shows how even the possession of weapons just causes more paranoia, causing the other group to feel the need to protect themselves with weapons, pulling both groups further and further apart from each other, despite how similar they may be.