Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

This is a film that will please many audiences - those looking for a summer blockbuster and those who enjoy a story that resonates with socio-political issues. It is a sequel (I didn't see the first one) set in a future where a simian virus has wiped out most of the human race and caused a sudden increase in the intelligence of apes. The few surviving humans are struggling in decrepit and broken cities, while the apes occupy rural areas. There are amazing scenes of huge communtites of apes, and of numorous apes swinging rapidly from tree to tree to tree through the forests. The early scenes with the apes are subtitled, but this segues into the later scenes where the apes speak in a sparse, croking English.

The story concerns one human enclave, lorded over by a benign and well-intentioned Dreyfus (Gary Oldman), which is running out of power and needs to repair a nearby dam. It sends an exploratory party to the dam. This is a group of callow americans straight out of TV drama, with a politically-correct regulation female, Ellie (Keri Russell) and a regulation negro, Foster (John Eyes) and they set off up the mountain in an English motor-car, a Landrover. The group is captured by the apes and we have the scene, which I have seen in other films, where they are taken to the heart of the ape community and the apes argue about what to do with them. The apes are led by the thoughtful and well-intentioned Ceasar (Andy Serkis), who listens to the group's leader, Malcolm (Jason Clarke) and allows him to go to the dam. During this scene there is a tense moment when it is revealed that one of the group has secretly brought a gun. It is striking that both the human and simian sides have well-intentioned and thoughtful leaders. When I watched the film I didn't know how the apes were rendered so I'm interested to see in writing this that they were actors.

There is contention on both sides: on the human side there are those who say "they are just animals, we must shoot them", and on the simian side there are those who say "humans locked us in cages and did experiments on us!" and some of them still have the scars to prove it. Ceasar and Dreyfus try to calm things down and maintain an uneasy coexistance, but the gun incident sowed mistrust which spread through both communities leading to deterioration on both sides and finally to disaster. Ceasar is challenged by the agressive and human-hating Koba and Dreyfus is dragged down by those seeking a more war-like posture. The apes are well-characterised, and we need to be able to recognize different apes to follow the story.

It is not hard to see the parallels between this story and many situations in the present world and in human history. The film could also be re-imagined as a cowboys 'n' Indians film with the Indians replaced by apes.

There is plenty of spectacle and the cinematography is very good, with images in a dark, grungy, sepia-ish brown, and plenty of spectacle. I saw the 3D version of the film and the 3D effects are well-controlled not too in-your-face.

There are a few moment when the narrative wobbles in the direction of cliched sentimentality, particularly when there is a baby ape that triggers the maternal instinct in Ellie.

This is an intelligent, enjoyable and thoughtful film that I do not hesitate to recommend.