The Rebirthing

Conditions: Messed Up

Film Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Sort of out of nowhere, the Planet of the Apes franchise re-rebooted itself after that awful Marky Mark film and got serious. This is the second film, called Dawn but it more feels like Battle rather than Dawn. Ten years have passed since the virus swept the planet and killed off most of the humans, and the film starts with the Apes in the forest above San Francisco, hunting deer. Once we’ve understood the dynamic of the Ape kingdom, the Humans blunder into the middle of it. Some survivors are living in the ruins of the city and they’re nearly out of diesel, so a small expedition has been sent up into the forest to get the hydro dam working again.

Of course one of the humans shoots an ape, but instead of the apes ripping the rest to peices the leader, Caesar, tells them to go. He knows how dangerous Humans are, and what confrontations with them usually lead to. However the humans need that dam – they are desperate to avoid the chaos that comes with no power, so the small group come back and eventually are allowed to get the power station working again. The problem is that all this enrages one of the Apes, who suffered terribly under the humans, does not trust them, and burns for revenge. Two societies forced to live together will do one of two things: either they will integrate, or one will destroy the other.

This is a very solid film. It’s a serious, complicated look at the basis of society and struggle for simple existence. It’s about arrogance and greed and fear. It’s a terrific depiction of human strengths and weaknesses. The digital and acting work to show the Apes is brilliantly done. The humans for their part are also terrific. The direction is spot on, and I also really liked the score, which worked subtly to emphasize mood rather than bash you over the head with bombast. It’s not often you can get this kind of slick film wrapped around such a complicated character drama, and we should enjoy it when it does happen. Apes. Together. Strong. Four and a half guns out of five.



- Peace out