Despite its flaws, 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes had succeeded in two areas that Tim Burton’s 2001 remake didn’t. It cost less to make, and it raked in more at the box office, plus critics and audiences were more favourable to the film. It had truly reinvigorated interest in the long-gestated franchise that arguably hadn’t truly had a good film since the 1968 original. So, Fox set about continuing with new entries to the franchise, bringing in Matt Reeves as director hot off the heels of his success with Cloverfield and Let Me In. Whilst Rise was certainly a step in the right direction, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is probably the best film in the entire franchise.
In the aftermath of the events of Rise, an outbreak of Simian Flu spread across the globe, decimating humanity and destroying much of civilisation. Ten years later and Caesar’s (Andy Serkis) family of apes live peacefully on the outskirts of San Francisco. They have developed a functioning society, as well as are educating each other on how to read, write, and speak. But when a group of humans encroaches on the ape’s territory it causes tensions to grow. The humans, led by Malcolm (Jason Clarke), wish to repair the nearby hydro-electric dam to supply power to their outpost in the city, a community of a few hundred led by former police officer Dreyfus (Gary Oldman). However, Caesar’s second in command, Koba (Toby Kebbell) does not trust the humans, who are heavily armed, and believe that by providing them with power it will allow them to destroy the apes home.
As Caesar forms an alliance with the humans in the hope of fostering a peace with them, Koba challenges Caesar’s authority and seeks to kill the humans, born out of his own hatred following his years as an experiment in a lab.
In the aftermath of the events of Rise, an outbreak of Simian Flu spread across the globe, decimating humanity and destroying much of civilisation. Ten years later and Caesar’s (Andy Serkis) family of apes live peacefully on the outskirts of San Francisco. They have developed a functioning society, as well as are educating each other on how to read, write, and speak. But when a group of humans encroaches on the ape’s territory it causes tensions to grow. The humans, led by Malcolm (Jason Clarke), wish to repair the nearby hydro-electric dam to supply power to their outpost in the city, a community of a few hundred led by former police officer Dreyfus (Gary Oldman). However, Caesar’s second in command, Koba (Toby Kebbell) does not trust the humans, who are heavily armed, and believe that by providing them with power it will allow them to destroy the apes home.
As Caesar forms an alliance with the humans in the hope of fostering a peace with them, Koba challenges Caesar’s authority and seeks to kill the humans, born out of his own hatred following his years as an experiment in a lab.
Where Rise drew heavy inspiration from 1972’s Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn similarly draws heavily from 1973’s finale of the original series, Battle for the Planet of the Apes. In my review for Battle I highlighted how it could have been a good film had it been given a larger budget. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is confirmation of that theory.
Now whilst Dawn doesn’t strictly follow the same story as Battle, it does use the same story framework for the most part. Apes have established civilisation and harmony, they encounter a group of humans, there’s a power struggle between Caesar and another ape, it all ends in a battle between two factions of apes and the humans. The fact is it’s a great story, and Dawn is given a huge budget of around $170 million to bring this story to life, and it takes its time to draw the story out by also being the longest film in the franchise at around two hours and ten minutes.
Having not seen the film since around 2015 I’d forgotten almost all of it, but the opening sequence certainly hits hard in a post-COVID world. It details about the outbreak of Simian Flu (likely caused by the character Franklin’s exposure to ALZ-113 in Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and how it managed to go global before humanity even had a chance to react. Quarantine measures were put in place, but it was all too little too late and it caused the downfall of humanity. It’s a really impressive opening that only hits harder now considering what we all went through just a few years ago.
I love the way that Caesar and Koba’s relationship changes over the course of the film. Koba is not a ‘villain’ in the same way that Aldo from Battle was. Aldo wanted power and destruction and nothing more, but Koba sees humanity as a threat and wants to protect the other apes from them. The rift that forms between Caesar and Koba is not initially formed from a lust for power, or hatred between the two, but instead because of a difference in opinion of whether to trust humans.
As Koba begins to gain more influence and power that’s when he starts to become corrupted by it, putting his own desires before that of his brethren, but that comes much later on and so it allows you as the viewer to really sympathise with Koba’s viewpoint on the matter from the outset.
It’s not just the great writing of these two characters that sells you on the story though, it’s the performance. I spoke about Serkis’ phenomenal performance as Caesar in my review of Rise, and he continues that here in Dawn but his fellow apes are also given much more screentime to shine. Kebbell is phenomenal as Koba, and so is Nick Thurston as Blue Eyes, Caesar’s eldest son. Karin Konoval also delivers a strong performance as Maurice, Caesar’s advisor. All of the ape performances are done through extensive motion capture and the massive budget increase from Rise really goes all in on improving the quality of the CGI. Whilst it’s definitely starting to show its age now almost ten years later, the level of detail in the skin and fur of the apes is staggering. Not to mention all the work that’s gone into designing the environments. Most of the film appears to have been shot on a green screen, and I don’t imagine many of the areas we see to have been actual locations or sets, so it’s very impressive to see something use CGI this extensively and it be that high quality in 2014.
Now whilst Dawn doesn’t strictly follow the same story as Battle, it does use the same story framework for the most part. Apes have established civilisation and harmony, they encounter a group of humans, there’s a power struggle between Caesar and another ape, it all ends in a battle between two factions of apes and the humans. The fact is it’s a great story, and Dawn is given a huge budget of around $170 million to bring this story to life, and it takes its time to draw the story out by also being the longest film in the franchise at around two hours and ten minutes.
Having not seen the film since around 2015 I’d forgotten almost all of it, but the opening sequence certainly hits hard in a post-COVID world. It details about the outbreak of Simian Flu (likely caused by the character Franklin’s exposure to ALZ-113 in Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and how it managed to go global before humanity even had a chance to react. Quarantine measures were put in place, but it was all too little too late and it caused the downfall of humanity. It’s a really impressive opening that only hits harder now considering what we all went through just a few years ago.
I love the way that Caesar and Koba’s relationship changes over the course of the film. Koba is not a ‘villain’ in the same way that Aldo from Battle was. Aldo wanted power and destruction and nothing more, but Koba sees humanity as a threat and wants to protect the other apes from them. The rift that forms between Caesar and Koba is not initially formed from a lust for power, or hatred between the two, but instead because of a difference in opinion of whether to trust humans.
As Koba begins to gain more influence and power that’s when he starts to become corrupted by it, putting his own desires before that of his brethren, but that comes much later on and so it allows you as the viewer to really sympathise with Koba’s viewpoint on the matter from the outset.
It’s not just the great writing of these two characters that sells you on the story though, it’s the performance. I spoke about Serkis’ phenomenal performance as Caesar in my review of Rise, and he continues that here in Dawn but his fellow apes are also given much more screentime to shine. Kebbell is phenomenal as Koba, and so is Nick Thurston as Blue Eyes, Caesar’s eldest son. Karin Konoval also delivers a strong performance as Maurice, Caesar’s advisor. All of the ape performances are done through extensive motion capture and the massive budget increase from Rise really goes all in on improving the quality of the CGI. Whilst it’s definitely starting to show its age now almost ten years later, the level of detail in the skin and fur of the apes is staggering. Not to mention all the work that’s gone into designing the environments. Most of the film appears to have been shot on a green screen, and I don’t imagine many of the areas we see to have been actual locations or sets, so it’s very impressive to see something use CGI this extensively and it be that high quality in 2014.
The final act is a great culmination of everything too, building to this epic battle in the streets of San Francisco between the humans and the apes, and Caesar and Koba. There’s this incredible shot where the cameras been mounted to the top of a tank as it’s rolling through the streets. As the drivers get killed by the apes the whole thing just goes out of control but Reeves doesn’t cut away from that viewpoint, so we get to see this 360-degree panning shot of the apes running alongside this tank as it’s steered into the human outpost. I can’t say I’ve seen anything like it before or since, and it really stood out as some genius filmmaking.
The climactic battle between Caesar and Koba may be almost entirely CGI but it’s definitely thrilling. Using a derelict construction site on top of a skyscraper as their battleground, they leap around the scaffolding and the cranes trying to topple each other off the building. It’s really great stuff and the logical high to try and achieve when bringing a property like Planet of the Apes into the modern day.
You often hear of the term ‘the thinking man’s action movie’, but I really do think that applies to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. There is so much work done in the first and second acts to explore ethical and moral quandaries like the original film did all those years ago, but thanks to modern technology it is able to drive all of that towards a spectacular action finale. There’s very little about Dawn of the Planet of the Apes that I would say could be improved, it’s a really incredible feat of blockbuster filmmaking. If you’ve yet to dip your toes into the franchise, then Dawn is an excellent starting point. You’ll definitely benefit from having seen Rise, but Dawn does so much heavy lifting on its own that you could probably skip it if you wanted to. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is certainly proof that you can teach an old monkey new tricks, and that there’s plenty of life left in this franchise yet.
The climactic battle between Caesar and Koba may be almost entirely CGI but it’s definitely thrilling. Using a derelict construction site on top of a skyscraper as their battleground, they leap around the scaffolding and the cranes trying to topple each other off the building. It’s really great stuff and the logical high to try and achieve when bringing a property like Planet of the Apes into the modern day.
You often hear of the term ‘the thinking man’s action movie’, but I really do think that applies to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. There is so much work done in the first and second acts to explore ethical and moral quandaries like the original film did all those years ago, but thanks to modern technology it is able to drive all of that towards a spectacular action finale. There’s very little about Dawn of the Planet of the Apes that I would say could be improved, it’s a really incredible feat of blockbuster filmmaking. If you’ve yet to dip your toes into the franchise, then Dawn is an excellent starting point. You’ll definitely benefit from having seen Rise, but Dawn does so much heavy lifting on its own that you could probably skip it if you wanted to. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is certainly proof that you can teach an old monkey new tricks, and that there’s plenty of life left in this franchise yet.