Tuesday Night is Film Night needs to stop all this monkey business and quit aping around and sit down to watch a film, but what shall we watch gibbon half a chance? Take the cheese on toast from under the gorilla mother and sit down!
Who writes this rubbish?
Tonight we are watching;
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
It is good to catch the sequel of a film we've already seen, (see Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a really good sequel. It is set in a post apocalyptic earth, where a Simian flu virus has wiped out most of the inhabitants of the planet. Outside San Francisco the small pocket of apes that were around at the end of the first film have evolved and are now living in communal surroundings and have developed skills like basic building and making fire. They have noticed that the humans are now scarce and have not been seen for at least three years, that is until a small band of human survivors, who have set up a community in the centre of San Francisco try to find a small hydro electric power station near to the apes home. The plan being to supply power to the city and try to reestablish a human presence on earth. However, they did not bank on finding a colony of evolved apes who can communicate with humans.
Caesar, from the first film (played by Andy Serkis) is still the dominant male in the colony and when the human search party is captured it is Caesar who negotiates and eventually starts to trust the humans to work on the hydro electric plant. Malcolm (Jason Clarke) brokers a treaty with Caesar, but things start to breakdown, on both sides, as human and ape rebels shall we say, start to distrust either side and their own leaders.
Does that sound all a bit confusing? It isn't really, watch the film and the story will unfold quite clearly and you will find human nature is echoed in ape behaviour, where trust becomes mistrust and where respect and loyalty breeds contempt and disorder. Far fetched as the storyline may be, but the behaviour of the on-screen apes and humans are not so different to reality, when it comes to living together with people or in this case a species with different beliefs.
Is that a bit heavy for a film review? It's either philosophical thoughts or monkey jokes here!
Anyway you look at it, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a great film, with a good storyline. It goes without saying that the CGI effects are outstanding, making the simulated action very real and believable. Jason Clarke and Gary Oldman are really good as the leading human actors, as are Serkis (Caesar) and Toby Kebbell who plays Koba, the rebel ape. The film starts with a brief synopsis of the pandemic that has struck the earth, so it's not necessary really to understand the plot of the first film, but it is advisable to watch it to get the full depth of story that links the second film to the first.
Perhaps not as good as the first film, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is still a gripping drama to watch and is worthy of a viewing should you find the time and enjoy a bit of far fetched monkey business.
TNiFN Rating 76%
IMDB Link
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