Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

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⭐ 8.5/10




I have heard it said that this is the best entry in the recent series, and I thought the opening was amazing.  It has what I think is a very clear audio reference to the opening of 2001 A Space Odyssey, so huge points in its favour, gave me chills.  But after that I was a bit bored, the first half of the movie was sweet but predictable, you know instantly what the conflict in the movie is going to be.

Even with me coming in skeptical, I thought the second half of the movie when things start to explode was very exciting.  I will again compare these to Marvel movies in that those look like garbage and this movie which came out 10 years ago looks incredible.  The VFX work is actually amazing, I was blown away by the battle scene.  It was directed by the guy who did the most recent Batman and I think his style works really well here, all the things at night look incredible compared to Marvel's washed out dark colours. The main battle happens at night and I was floored with how epic it was.  Koba riding a horse dual wielding guns is so cool.  And then he hijacks a tank and I had the excitement you usually only feel watching a movie with a crowd in a theatre, but I was in my house on a random weekday. Its a long one-shot where you are basically mounted on the tank as Koba leaps on it, gets rid of the humans driving it, then storms the gates of the hold.  It turns in all directions so you can see the flames and the monkeys and the chaos. An incredible action scene, I don't know if its specifically regarded as such but I think that scene will be my lasting memory from these movies.

Its pretty rare that the action is what stands out in a movie for me, but its that good.  As I said I think the emotional side of the story is predictable, which makes it hard to care about since you know where it is going.  I thought it was funny that the only woman is again a sidekick with medical training who can help heal apes. The cast is kind of stacked but they aren't given a ton to do - all the best scenes here are ape-focused.

I was a bit concerned that the next movie is clearly a war movie, but if the battles are as well-staged as they are here it could be great.  The human connection Caesar has is used well here, but its hard to care when the humans from the last film are gone.  Also, the opening credits are kind of disturbing to watch in a post-covid world, felt way too real. A great movie, glad I'm catching up on these. Franchise entertainment that doesn't suck.

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