Simian Civilization: A Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Review
by Geoffrey Ledesma
![post signature](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkiIsObJMT776WiErK-6WbYCb3-IR0l6DVe2y4-aVptSKTVULDXQyn-1juQ7e8g3W7vRioPmeIey7Ii64pjTIsKL-Zc04InQuHcR3SUlhDJQpZZnmn1rhLrr1sSqryuOnAaukrM70F4zeR/s1600/Geoff+Signature.PNG)
Credits to the images and videos used in this post go to "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes", and/or to their respective owners. I do not own these materials. No copyright infringement intended.
After three years, the waiting is
finally over. To be honest I was afraid that Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
would catch the “Sucking Sequels” syndrome, especially that it took them three
years to finally release this film. The teasers and trailers however, were able
to get me excited so I had high hopes for this movie as I entered the cinema.
Set ten Years after the events in
Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn shows us that a viral outbreak called the
Simian Flu has devastated humanity, with the only survivors being a small
percentage of the population who are genetically immune to the virus. The Apes
on the other hand, led by Caesar, have started building a community and lived
peacefully away from the humans. When the two species finally make contact
after a decade, Caesar has hopes of making peace, but the mutual distrust in
both sides takes them to a different direction.
*If you want to have an idea of what happened in that 10-year gap, you can check out short films that show us what transpired in those years here*
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Trailer
If I may be blunt, the first part
of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was really dragging and at some point, even
boring enough to make my movie-buddy doze off in the cinema. The film starts
out showing how the Apes have adapted to life in the forest and how they have
created a primitive but peaceful community led by a now middle-aged Caesar.
This part of the movie was slow and it took time in establishing the way of
living, the societal roles, and even family issues of the Apes and how they
closely resemble human behavior. From here you can already see that the movie
will focus more on the Apes’ perspective and that the humans will be the
intruding element to the story. This part of the movie can actually stand on
its own, and I can imagine a separate film dedicated solely to how the Apes
built their community.
However, when the humans were
introduced to the scene, the tension starts to build up, and you can tell that
trouble is going to be inevitable. What makes you hold on to your seats are not
battle scenes but the feeling of how fragile the situation is, knowing that one
small misunderstanding can trigger war.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
focused more on story than action. To me it really was more of a transition
film whose purpose is to revive the franchise so it can keep on going and make
up for the three years that it has been on hiatus. It’s less as an action film,
but more as a movie that makes you think – Is it really in the nature of an
intelligent species to become destructive? Does civilization and democracy
always go with hunger for power? Isn’t humanity already close to a similar
scenario?
Dawn felt like a prelude to a war
film, so if ever there is going to be a third installment, we can probably
expect a bit more action than this one. Other than the chilling scoring, the
brilliant CGI work, and the good character development (when Caesar speaks, you
know he means business), the movie also gets its charm from its moral lesson. “Ape not kill Ape”. We humans should be learning from them.
Credits to the images and videos used in this post go to "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes", and/or to their respective owners. I do not own these materials. No copyright infringement intended.
No comments
Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment, I would appreciate your feedback :)