Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

Image source: http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/pota2.jpg

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes represents a great technical achievement.  Andy Serkis' performance as Caesar and his relationship with Koba is the film's clear highpoint.  But it's the kind of film where I feel like you have to watch the behind-the-scenes footage on how they did it to actually appreciate the work they put in.  Maybe in the special features of the DVD/Blu-ray they'll discuss how the apes got a monopoly on horses.  The first reboot in the film had a stronger storyline (grounded in Alzheimer's research) to back up the technical bravura.  It also had James Franco, who served as the emotional anchor for the humans to match Caesar.  Dawn focuses almost all its attention on the apes, and the humans are really caricatures.  There isn't one who you really care about.

What the film does do right is create a real, tangible sense of urgency throughout its runtime.  The film successfully creates imagery that mirrors the two societies: apes & humans (massive crowds beyond roused to action by a singular leader, family bonding time, etc.).  There's  an appreciable feeling that the union of apes and humans is doomed, and it has reached a point beyond repair.  And the image of an ape with a gun pointed at you is pretty striking.  It's even more devastating if you're surrendering to an ape with a machine gun, and then that same ape proceeds to brutally gun you down.  Given the extremely high quality of modern science-fiction filmmaking in recent years, my expectations have been raised dramatically.  Maybe it was hyped up too much, maybe I'm being cynical, or maybe I don't really want to watch a movie where the bulk of the dialogue is told via ape sign language.  At the end of the day, I was let down.

3-D? Don't bother.

Rating: 3/5

Side note: I strongly recommend checking out the ORIGINAL Planet of the Apes (1968).  Man, humans of the future are really bad at avoiding getting trapped in nets.