Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Posted by Itheliving 11 years ago to Movies
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes / Rated PG-13 for violence, language and apes living in unsanitary conditions.
Pierre Boulle (1912-1994) was a French writer known for two literary works made into successful films. Based on his own WWII experiences as an Engineer, he penned The Bridge over the River Kwai which was published in 1952 and was a big best seller. It was made into a film and debuted in 1957. It was a fictional account of his WWII experiences as a prisoner of war involved in bridge building for Japan. The film won 7 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actor for Alec Guiness’ great performance.
Other works were successful but it wasn’t till his book, La planet de singes in 1963, that he hit it big again. It was translated into English and published in 1964 as Monkey Planet. The title was changed to Planet of the Apes. The film, directed by Franklin Schaffner premiered to wide acclaim in 1968 and starred Charlton Heston. The rest is history. Four sequels from 1970 through 1973 followed. “Apemania” reached it’s zenith with toys and games, a Marvel comic book and animated TV series. A Tim Burton directed remake came out in 2001 then in 2011 the series rebooted with a sequel following and now playing.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is well made but a little too long for the storyline and action sequences. Andy Serkis, who is a brilliant actor, again plays the ape Caesar. He had a bigger role as the ape King Kong in the most recent reincarnation of that story in 2006. He also played Lumpy in the same film. In DOTPOTA the story is about the conflict with the apes now living in Muir Woods (north of San Francisco) and a few human survivors living in an enclave in San Francisco. The apes fight with each other and with the humans. The humans also fight amongst themselves as well as the apes. Like the 2011 film, everything leads up to a big San Francisco battle for supremacy.
Along the way a bit of soap opera and intrigue take place. Much of it doesn’t do much other than inspire yawns in the audience. Plot techniques which we have seen before occur on a regular basis. There is a great dark and brooding score by Oscar winner Michael Giacchino. The storyline ends with lots of room for a part III.
For those who have never seen the original film from 1968 it is now available on BluRay for under $10. Lots of extras include commentary by the stars and Honorary Oscar winner for make up, John Chambers. The legendary atonal score by composer, Jerry Goldsmith, was also nominated for an Oscar and the BluRay contains rare commentary by Goldsmith. Also available are box sets of all of the films and TV series trying to cash in on the current box office release. Maybe, just maybe, “Apemania” is back.
Rated 3.0 out of 4.0 reasons this film is above average almost entirely due to Andy Serkis. Part man, part ape.
.
Pierre Boulle (1912-1994) was a French writer known for two literary works made into successful films. Based on his own WWII experiences as an Engineer, he penned The Bridge over the River Kwai which was published in 1952 and was a big best seller. It was made into a film and debuted in 1957. It was a fictional account of his WWII experiences as a prisoner of war involved in bridge building for Japan. The film won 7 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actor for Alec Guiness’ great performance.
Other works were successful but it wasn’t till his book, La planet de singes in 1963, that he hit it big again. It was translated into English and published in 1964 as Monkey Planet. The title was changed to Planet of the Apes. The film, directed by Franklin Schaffner premiered to wide acclaim in 1968 and starred Charlton Heston. The rest is history. Four sequels from 1970 through 1973 followed. “Apemania” reached it’s zenith with toys and games, a Marvel comic book and animated TV series. A Tim Burton directed remake came out in 2001 then in 2011 the series rebooted with a sequel following and now playing.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is well made but a little too long for the storyline and action sequences. Andy Serkis, who is a brilliant actor, again plays the ape Caesar. He had a bigger role as the ape King Kong in the most recent reincarnation of that story in 2006. He also played Lumpy in the same film. In DOTPOTA the story is about the conflict with the apes now living in Muir Woods (north of San Francisco) and a few human survivors living in an enclave in San Francisco. The apes fight with each other and with the humans. The humans also fight amongst themselves as well as the apes. Like the 2011 film, everything leads up to a big San Francisco battle for supremacy.
Along the way a bit of soap opera and intrigue take place. Much of it doesn’t do much other than inspire yawns in the audience. Plot techniques which we have seen before occur on a regular basis. There is a great dark and brooding score by Oscar winner Michael Giacchino. The storyline ends with lots of room for a part III.
For those who have never seen the original film from 1968 it is now available on BluRay for under $10. Lots of extras include commentary by the stars and Honorary Oscar winner for make up, John Chambers. The legendary atonal score by composer, Jerry Goldsmith, was also nominated for an Oscar and the BluRay contains rare commentary by Goldsmith. Also available are box sets of all of the films and TV series trying to cash in on the current box office release. Maybe, just maybe, “Apemania” is back.
Rated 3.0 out of 4.0 reasons this film is above average almost entirely due to Andy Serkis. Part man, part ape.
.
