Rise of the Planet of the Apes should not have been good. James Franco leading a reboot of an iconic franchise? Stupid idea. Then Andy Serkis came on board, and that all changed. Serkis’s Caesar, the leader of the apes, was riveting to behold. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes dispatches Franco to give Serkis top billing: a choice that pays off right away. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes isn’t perfect but Caesar and Serkis’s depiction of him is.
After a brief catch-up from the last film we are introduced to two societies. The apes could not be thriving more: Caesar (Serkis) has established himself as alpha male and built a growing society. Humans have been nearly wiped off the planet from the flu derived by scientists to try to cure Alzheimer’s. Both societies unexpectedly collide when Malcolm (Jason Clarke) and his expedition run into the ape band searching for a power source (power is off across the globe). Malcolm and Caesar tentatively tolerate the other species, but they have threats. Malcolm founded the human refuge in San Francisco with Dreyfus (Gary Oldman), who is driven by all means to keep his society on top of the food chain. Caesar is challenged by Koba (Toby Kebbell), whose years being experimented on by humans has left him paranoid of humanity in general.
I’m gonna warn you now: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes at times feels like a foreign film. After the prologue, the first 15 minutes are wordless as the simian society is established (not unlike 2001: A Space Odyssey). When focused on the apes, Dawn is fascinating. Their culture is at times not unlike our own: there are laws and families and learning. They hunt. They have rebellious kids. Watching these primates (especially the kids) experience similar situations as humans makes them easily relatable. Because of the ape-centric story, humans actually get the short end of the stick in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, forcing the better actors (Jason Clarke) to make do with what little material is there for them.
Outside of some early scenes, the CGI is pretty great here. These Apes look and feel real, showing how advanced motion capture technology has become. Battle sequences are really exciting and fun. Watching apes riding horses wielding machine guns (sometimes two) through a fireball is so ridiculous it is extremely badass. As important, facial expressions are easily seen in all their complexity, so you can easily see how terrified some of the apes are as they go to war.
Andy Serkis needs some progressive Oscar voters to push his cause. Serkis has been responsible for some of the great modern movie characters (Gollum, King Kong, etc). His Caesar is the star of the film, and easily the most fascinating character, simultaneously wise, strong, and emotional. Intimate moments involving Serkis are the strongest in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Jason Clarke gets the best character on the human side, basically mimicking Caesar’s arc. Keri Russell is warm and sweet as Clarke’s beau, but also a little badass. Kodi Smit-McPhee, Gary Oldman, and Kirk Acevedo are given one note to play and do the best they can with it (the screenplay doesn’t help there). Judy Greer, Toby Kebbell, Karin Konoval, and Terry Notary have bright futures ahead of them playing CGI characters; Kebbell is actually pretty good as Caesar’s threat Koba.
Sequels are set up as we approach the precipice of the original planet of the apes film. A war is coming, and thanks to Andy Serkis and director Matt Reeves, we kinda want the apes to win. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes moves the pieces in place in fascinating and fun ways, using our most underrated modern actor to backbone the film. Now we need Gollum to stumble upon the camp on the way to Mordor so Serkis can get more things to do.