Movie Review # 672: Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes (2014)

And now, time for Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes!

Plot: Ten years after the Simian Flu pandemic wiped out all but one in 500 of the human population that was immune to the disease, a group of humans, including Malcolm (Jason Clarke), and a small group of humans that successfully bond with Caesar (Andy Serkis), who is now the leader of the newer genetically enhanced ape population. When Koba (Toby Kebbell), Caesar’s second-in-command, begins to grow resilient towards humans after he was abused by humans at the Gensys lab, can Caesar successfully allow his new human friends to work on a generator that will likely help bring power to the mini human population in the area?

Okay, now, here is an example of how you do a sequel, and mostly, if not fully, right. First of all, because this sequel had a longer running time than the previous film, 25 minutes longer, to be exact, this film had more room to breathe in terms of developing the world more, developing the characters much more, and even conflicts much more. Even the enmity between Caesar, and Koba was handled really well. Same goes for the ape population overall. Honestly, even though the human characters are newer ones, you really care for them, along with all the ape characters. I wouldn’t be surprised if maybe part of why this film was longer than the previous film was because a lot of other people might have thought the first film to be a little too short. Well, thankfully, that was not the case this time around. It truly deserved to be longer. Oh, and the filmmakers did a phenomenal job of making Koba villainous, and menacing. His face seemed to look a little like that of Scar from The Lion King. Additionally, Caesar served as a great example of a great leader. I mean being willing to fight against those who tried to wreck his leadership, no matter how difficult that would have been for him, giving some of the humans a chance, particularly when one of them helps a family member of his out, and more. I don’t recall this much character development even from him in the first film. Same goes for the newer human character, Malcolm, his wife, Ellie, and even the leader of the remaining humans, Dreyfus. Oh, that reminds me, the acting was great too, especially from Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Keri Russell, and Gary Oldman, along with the rest of the cast. If there were any great lessons to learn from this film, it would be that one, to be willing to give others the benefit of a doubt, even if they need to earn your trust, and to not act like you know it all, when you don’t.

Still, while most of the character development was fantastic, there was some that did seem to be lacking, particularly from Dreyfus, the ex-police. I won’t go into details, but let’s just say that with actions that he took near the end of the film, there could have been a little buildup to his character. That leads me to the other deal with the climax. The climax could have been maybe tweaked a little more as well.

And that’s my review for Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes. Though it still could have been a little better, it was overall really enjoyable. Nearly everything was an improvement from Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, from the world building, mostly good character development, a surprisingly great musical score by Michael Giacchino, and more. If you want to see a sequel that is an improvement from its predecessor, then definitely check it out. You may yet be pleasantly surprised.

Final Grade: A-