“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”Starring: Andy Serkis, Gary Oldman, Jason Clarke, Keri RussellBSome movies have concepts so ludicrous it becomes almost impossible to suspend disbelief. “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” is almost one of these films, but manages to just barely avoid this fate thanks to a compelling performance by Andy Serkis.
Serkis plays an ape called Caesar, the benevolent ruler of the escaped test subjects from the previous installment. They have their own colony, complete with schooling, hospital care and culture. They go on hunts and enjoy conversations after dinner.
This peace is shattered when a human scavenging party comes across them.Turns out, the simian flu that gave the apes their intelligence — with the side effect of wiping out most of the human population — left a few survivors.
The protagonists Malcolm (Jason Clarke) and Ellie (Keri Russell) only want peace. However, their leader at the ruins of San Francisco, Dreyfus (Gary Oldman), thirsts for vengeance. War seems inevitable, especially since Caesar’s attempts at peace are often undermined by Koba (Toby Kebbell), who thinks humans are too dangerous to trust.
The story of two parties on the brink of violence is familiar. The relationships make us overlook that. Ellie and Malcolm share a love built on mutual loss. Both of their families were killed by the simian flu.
Caesar is humanized by his struggle to balance the duties of leadership with the responsibilities of fatherhood. Serkis will certainly get an Oscar someday for his pioneering in the field of motion capture performance. The expressions, voice and body language he gives Caesar are transformative. They alone are worth the price of admission.
The rest of the movie is pretty good, despite every now and then the viewers realize they are watching a movie where monkeys ride on horses and shoot people. These images are never quite goofy enough to spoil the movie’s fun, but it is occasionally a close call.
The movie ultimately works because the political tension between apes and humans feels real. Interactions between the groups are flawed, complex and tinged with sadness. In short, they are human.
Director Matt Reeves has signed on to write and direct the sequel. If he can keep this movie’s humanism and make us forget that we are watching monkeys, perhaps by telling a more original story, then he will have made the best “Planet of the Apes” movie yet.
