'Apes. Together. Strong.'
Having enjoyed the first film I was interested in seeing this
sequel for two reasons. Firstly I’m always intrigued to experience the forever expanding
performance capture technology. Secondly Andy Serkis is involved again and he
is an actor I believe is completely captivating and perhaps one of a kind in
terms of his unique skills.
I was delighted to see that the performance capture work on
the apes has once again broken new ground as they look absolutely floorless. It’s
easy to forget how incredible this technology is. Turning the facial expressions
and physical performance of an actor into a completely believable living ape on
screen. The technology has come along leaps and bounds since Serkis’ work as Gollum and I think this may even be his greatest performance capture role to
date. While there is no denying that Serkis is the godfather of this acting
form, in Dawn Toby Kebbell gives a different and yet still as amazing performance as Koba, an ape with views
that clash with Caesar’s.
For a film with such a huge budget it would be easy for the
director to turn this film into some kind of huge action film. What sets Dawn apart from films that have been
released this summer is it never gets carried away with trying to be a
blockbuster. The film is restrained and uses action set pieces sparingly for
maximum impact as it really is a character story. No character in the film is
one-dimensional (especially the apes) there always seems to be logical reasons
as to why a character has made a decision and every main character has a
suitable arc that emphasises their importance to the overall story.
I thoroughly enjoyed Dawn
of the Planet of the Apes and the biggest compliment I can give the
director and writers is that the story never felt predictable or recycled. There
is a moment in the story where I was worried that it was suddenly going to
become Dances with Apes, thankfully
it never did. Solid film I give it 4.5/5.
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