Review: DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES  (SCI-FI/ACTION-THRILLER) 
4 out of 4 stars
Directed by Matt Reeves
Starring: Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Toby Kebbell, Keri Russell, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Gary Oldman, Nick Thurston, Judy Greer, Karin Konoval, Kirk Acevedo
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and brief strong language.
Verdict: A sturdy piece of blockbuster spectacle rooted in stellar characters, DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is a piece of meaty science fiction drama with emotional understanding and lush visuals, even if it may be something you weren't expecting.
YOU MAY ENJOY DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES IF YOU LIKED:
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES  (2011)
CLOVERFIELD  (2008)
LET ME IN  (2010)
DISTRICT 9  (2009)
PLANET OF THE APES  (1968)

I wasn't looking forward to RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES back in 2011.  It was an August release (usually the "dumping ground" of the summer movie season), the visual effects looked distractingly unfinished in the advertisements, and the 2001 remake wasn't good.  The 1968 film PLANET OF THE APES is a science fiction classic, full of interesting ideas and nightmare visions of a topsy-turvy world.  Against the odds, RISE OF THE... turned out to be a worthy reboot of the series, something related to the original series in concept, but with its own interesting ideas, new and exciting characters and plenty of room to grow.  Now we get to that growth.
Even if you missed RISE OF THE..., you shouldn't have trouble keeping up with DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, which builds handsomely upon its predecessor but establishes the basics from the get-go with an opening sequence recounting the spread of the ALZ-113 "Simian Virus" that decimated the human race after Caesar, a chimpanzee, led an exodus of apes exposed to an intelligence-enhancing virus created in a laboratory from San Francisco.  Ten years have passed since the ape rebellion, and now the apes are thriving in a forest city within the Redwoods National Park, where Caesar (Andy Serkis) governs as a benevolent and thoughtful chief, with his close counselors Koba (Toby Kebbell), a bonobo chimpanzee disfigured by years of lab experimentation, and Maurice (Karin Konoval), an former circus orangutan who acts as tribe educator.  No humans have been seen for two years, but when a small group of humans accidentally stumbles into the ape territory looking for an old dam to power their small community of genetically immune survivors of the virus, the encounter threatens to erupt into an all-out war as each community harbors intense resentments and certain parties have conflicting ideas on how to address the situation. 

While the marketing has emphasized the action element of the film, and the film sports great action, it is more a character drama than anything else.  What makes DAWN OF THE... work is how well the film understands its characters, never resorting to the cheap shortcuts of villains with simple prejudice or ambition for the sake of ambition.  Its heroes are flawed and deeply layered; everyone has noble and appreciable intentions, but even when sharing common motivations, each character acts through their own frame of understanding.  When a character goes wrong, you always can understand why they do what they do, even while understanding that they're wrong.  Ironically, you're reluctant to these characters eventually come to blows.
Because the characters are so strongly formed, the action works; there's a clear sense of toll to the battles.  Even the extras are not merely cannon fodder, and when they go down, you feel it in the light of the major characters' interests.  The stakes are high and the action is in service of the characters.
One of the weak points of RISE OF THE... were the CGI visual effects, mostly due to time constraints, but the powerful motion-capture performances overcame any weaknesses in the renderings.  In DAWN OF THE.., this shortcoming has been remedied, even with many more visual effects shots, and while they're not all altogether "flawless", they are a vast improvement and often downright stunning.  Yet again, however, the true power of the visual effects are in the motion-capture performances, in particular Andy Serkis as Caesar, who continues his reign as the king of motion capture acting, a technique he revolutionized as Gollum/Smeagol in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy.  While petitions continue to demand Academy Award recognition of Serkis' work, the lack of clarity on how much of an actor's performance translates to the CGI rendering (it seems to vary, but in Serkis' case it's probably most of it) means a nomination in a competitive acting category is unlikely, but one day, he will inevitably be honored with a Special Achievement award, and his performance as Caesar is one of the reasons why he deserves it.
Matt Reeves, director of CLOVERFIELD and LET ME IN, replacing RISE OF THE... director Rupert Wyatt, is an ideal fit for this series, adept at creating tension, visual spectacle, terror and emotional depth, so lucky for us, 20th Century Fox has already tapped him for another Apes film, scheduled for release in 2016.