Film Review: “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”
Photo Credit: 20th Century Fox
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Well, well, well: we have discovered the celluloid unicorn! A creature so rare, so unique and so utterly mythological that we have only heard of it in lore: I speak, of course, of the big budget summer blockbuster sequel that is refreshingly (indeed, almost unnervingly) intelligent and entertaining.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes manages to do what its 2011 predecessor and reboot venture did not: explain in human terms the plight of non-human creatures. The creatures in question are, of course, the Apes who have taken over the planet after humanity has been wiped out. Or nearly wiped out, as the Apes discover. The stray band of survivors does what human beings do best: ravage, pillage and co-opt resources for their own benefit, often at the expense of the existence of other creatures. This is a moral fable with an environmental bent – and it rings all the more true because it is so expertly done.
The show belongs almost entirely to the astonishingly brilliant and touching portrayal by Andy Serkis of the Ape leader Cesar. While Serkis’s portrayal of Gollum in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films is undoubtedly expert (and demonstrates an all-consuming madness unlike anything else in film), his portrayal of Cesar is easily the best performance of a non-human character by a human actor ever put to film. Cesar is fully realized in ways that the human cast is not: he is a vulnerable leader who wants to save his “people”, unsure of his ability to do so, and unsure if survival is even possible in the stead of such relentless destruction. He must also stave off a challenge from his own human-like Apes, who wish to meet the force of the human destruction with equal viciousness. In many ways, Cesar is the Jesus of the Apes.
It’s a stunningly realized narrative, at both the emotional an visual level – and it never lets the action overwhelm the story at the heart of the film. It is, dare I say, one of the best summer movies to come along in eons.
For once, a blockbuster that deserves to be seen by billions.
