Review of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) by Jonathan B — 05 Sep 2016

Some great CGI effects make this action thriller a really exciting and enjoyable piece of sic-fi. In fact, the effects are so good, that in places you forget that many of the main characters were realised by computers following the actions of actors covered in ping pong balls.

I was particularly impressed with the realisation of Maurice, the orang utan, who is simply superb. I really enjoyed the tension built up as the opposing ape and human societies are bought to the brink of war by acts of aggression on both sides.

Indeed, it is unusual and refreshing to have opposing sides in a confrontation depicted as having populations who aren't just either all good or all bad. Real life if more nuanced than that and I like it when movies depict this.

This bodes well for the future of this series and I am genuinely looking forward to the next instalment which I hope continues in this manner. The original Planet of the Apes series gave us a variety of characters with different moral viewpoints and I'm glad that this has carried through into the updated films.