Well, did I expect to go ape over this one when I saw it ? Yes.
But did I actual manage to do that? Not quite. As to the why of that I’ll explain at the end.
Regardless, this is still a great movie, emotionally involving and technically one of the most brilliant effects films I have ever watched. The entire feature is a single magnificent testament to both the ape actors and the effect techs at Weta , because you’ll totally accept the characters you’ll see on the screen as utterly complete and real in themselves, its almost impossible now to “see the join”. Only at a couple of points was I drawn out of the film by things that didn’t quite work, but given the sheer amount of screen time given to the apetors they were just minor quibbles.
It goes without saying that Andy Serkis pulls off one of the most brilliantly empathic and humane performances I’ve ever seen, but then so do many of the ape cast, Maurice and Koba in particular stand out. Really, in a couple of years, we are simply not going to be able tell the difference between realities. What the actors manage to put into their characters and what is preserved by the motion capture is utterly there in the CGI you’ll see on the screen and that’s damn near to becoming perfectly invisible now. Brilliant work.
I really enjoyed the “2001” homage at the very beginning. And the fact the film focuses so strongly on the apes story. This is ,for want of a better parallel , a simian version of Game of Thrones and the human element is there to inject the necessary potential for conflict, but the real heart of the story lies within the apes encampment.
The slowly building tensions between Koba and Caesar, the two groups and the simmering fear and hatred triggered by misunderstanding and incident really are so relevant to today and human nature, you cannot help but be gripped by the story and the character arcs, and it all builds to a very satisfying and spectacular finale.
But I thought this is where the film could have done that bit more. It was a bit predictably written, almost beat for beat. That’s not to say its at all bad , it simply isn’t , but it was so well constructed and put together that you could see the whole picture just from a few sketchy plot outlines very early on.
“Rise” surprised but Dawn didn’t . Its visually stunning, its got an emotional humanity and intelligence to it that’s lifts it way above the utter dross that is a certain kind of summer blockbuster film at the moment and its immediately gone on to my DVD to buy list.
But while I would still give Rise a 9.5/10 ,Dawn gets a point knocked off for the storyline which I’d hoped they’d have been a little braver with. And as the third tale is now under development (hooray for that!!!) I’d like to see them end the series on a slightly more unexpected note. The very end of Dawn kind of hints towards it. As dark as you like folks!
All in all a great film ,well worth the praise its been given and a rewarding viewing.