Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Dawn of Some Sense Finally

Finally, the studio executives, writers, and the director get it right with an apes sequel. Most of the apes sequels had nonsensical names, and were terrible with utter lack of creativity. They were dished out only to milk the fan base of the original. Even Tim Burton could not get it right in 2001. It was a good decision to reboot it in 2011 instead of trying to explain the ape statue at the Lincoln Memorial!

Most fans of the apes movies loved only the 1968 original. The fact that most people rented the original and ignored the sequels bears testimony to its popularity. The original had a great premise and it had Charlton Heston! The climactic shot of a buried Statue of Liberty shocks as well as informs the audience that the ape evolution happened not on some distant planet but on earth itself. However, one wondered about the lousiness of the space mission that was actually aimed at some distant planet. The astronauts traveled light years, probably in circles, to land back on earth a few thousand years into future! The space vehicle was actually a time machine! How stupid is that?

When one learns that popular actors of the time played the apes in all the five original movies, it does not make much sense. Anyone could have played the roles and it would not have made any difference to the audience. It looked like the actors were wearing masks though it was actually heavy ape make up.

Beneath the Planet of the Apes was perhaps the most dim-witted apes sequel. It had psychic humans who survived a nuclear apocalypse and lived in a forbidden zone while apes grew dominant everywhere around them. When conflict ensues between the dominant apes and the humans, the humans detonate the Alpha-Omega bomb that destroys the earth for good! No wonder Charlton Heston was not even a wee bit interested and wanted his character to be killed off for good so that the franchise would not need him in further sequels.

This latest apes sequel does not have such illogical stuff as some obscure gas that inexplicably increase the intelligence of apes overnight, electromagnetic storms that push you thousands of years into future, or a space vehicle that travels light years only to land in the same place. It is a great story about the difficulty of leadership in turbulent times, how a handful of bigoted individuals can scuttle peace between two warring communities, about how fear and hatred fan distrust, and about discovering that members of your community are equally capable of betrayal and are not above your enemies in moral stature. The director Matt Reeves says that the premise of this movie is what happened when there was a chance for peace between humans and apes.

Ceaser is the leader of the apes who revolted against humans in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the launch film of the rebooted series. The apes take refuge in a California forest and thrive. It has been ten years since the human race infected itself with the fatal simian virus. The virus decimates the human race.

The apes have not spotted a human in years and almost presume that the human race is extinct. A small band of human survivors then arrive to locate and repair a dam that may provide power to their dilapidated San Francisco camp. Humans and apes reach a fragile peace. However, fear and hatred fan distrust on both sides and conflict ensues.

There is no question on who wins the war between humans and apes. After all, it is supposed to be the planet of the apes and not of humans ultimately. “Dawn” documents the moment when humans struggle for survival and the apes take their first step towards dominance.

The main and supporting cast all did a great job. Andy Serkis, who is known for his motion-capture roles, returns for the role of Ceaser. Jason Clarke does a good job as the benevolent human leader. Keri Russell plays his wife. Toby Kebbell plays the motion-captured role of Koba, an ape who had been a lab rat and develops hatred for humans as a result. Gary Oldman plays Koba’s human counterpart, a leader who lost his dear ones to simian flu and has only hatred for apes.

“Dawn” is perhaps the best movie of the franchise so far and with the same director returning to action, fans can’t wait for the next sequel.