Remember how I was telling you in my Trailer Rant post that I wouldn’t mind watching ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes‘ movie? Yup, watched it. Yay!!! And just loved it. Me thinks that Andy Serkis should be nominated for Best Actor in the next Oscars. It isn’t really fair you know. I just love his portrayal of Caesar. He should have got that in the first movie itself 😦 Poor guy. So what if he is acting with the face of an Ape. It is still his emotions and his expressions in it.
I guess it is only fair I give you this before I start saying anything else about the movie SPOILER ALERT. There now that , that is out of the way, let me go about the things I loved in the movie, which may or may not reveal the story line and the ending. The movie starts with the description of how the virus has killed half of the human race and how the apes who actually escaped into the Muir Woods are still not to be seen etc etc. According to Maurice, its been 10 winters (i.e. 10 years) since they spotted humans and I guess the humans also think the same from the other side of the woods, until they meet Ash and Blue Eyes (Caesar’s son) while they are trying to find something else. And one guy in the group accidentally shoots Ash and there comes the whole (since I don’t know the actual term let me use ) colony of apes in defense. This is when the humans learn that these apes aren’t the normal ones they are used to seeing in the zoos (or were used to seeing actually). When Caesar speaks and tells them ‘GO’ with a chorus from everyone else, they are in for a shock. The reason why they were there ? They wanted to start the hydro power from the dam beyond the place where the ape’s are currently residing to generate the power for their city and the small (again for lack of better term) colony of people who remain protected in it , safe / immune from the virus and the rest of the world.
Now they (humans) don’t have any other chance other than trying to either wage a war against the apes and get to the damn or give Malcolm, the only guy who is in a sort of OK-list with the apes, three days to ‘talk’ to them and get it to work. Koba, who was the one tortured in the earlier movie, doesn’t believe in humans. But Caesar controls him and gives the humans a chance and themselves a opportunity for peace. He doesn’t want his family (i.e. the whole of ape community) to suffer. They go back and forth with their trust issues where Malcolm and his group (his son, his lover and another two people) gain their trust with Caesar. And finally get the power on. But Koba goes and finds that humans are getting their weapons ready (but he doesn’t know that they weren’t going to use it unless they are forced to, he is not the bright one in the group) so he comes back and tries to warn Caesar who is not ready to give up. But then Koba does the total human villain thing, he shoots Caesar and tells everyone that the humans killed him and takes over the control and launches the war on humans. Blue Eyes, believes Koba and goes but when he sees who Koba is ruthless and kills his own ape (they have a code: Ape not kill ape) he starts to doubt his convictions against humans. Malcolm, his son and lover are saved by Maurice. They find Caesar and upon his insistence go back to Caesar’s first home (the one with James Franco? yeah, that one) where Malcolm gets Blue Eyes along with some medicine and saves Caesar. Caesar goes back and fights Koba but the war between the humans and apes becomes imminent because once the power was on, they already were able to connect with the rest of the survivors and had already called for reinforcements.
Well, that was about the story. God, my head would have burst if I wasn’t able to let it out. You don’t have any OMG+Gasp moment in this like the one we had in the first installment when Caesar first says the word ‘NO’. My God, in that movie, I had tears when he did that. In this it is more about how the ape’s live and the drama that happens in their community. Humans play the side characters (as my friend said it), it is more of supporting role for humans. Caesar says how he thought that Apes were better than humans and then finally realizes that they were just like them (Was that a reference to the full circle of life ?) . When the apes demand that they kill the human who came to their place, Caesar just lifts his hand and everyone is quiet and attentive. The same thing when people are worried about the apes and they are in chaos, and Alan Rickman tries to calm them but shouting in his mike, people start talking more, they just don’t listen. Seriously, some times I felt apes were much well behaved :). When Caesar and Koba fight, Koba says that he is fighting for the whole of Ape community, Caesar says that it wasn’t so. He was fighting for his own revenge against humans (which he couldn’t get in the first movie). At the end Caesar says only one thing to Malcolm when he says that reinforcements are coming so the apes better go and hide. Caesar says that the apes started the war, and humans don’t forgive, so there is no other choice other than to face it, I was struck by that line. Are we seriously that unforgiving ? Well, if we are fighting with an enemy whom we cannot understand or communicate, I understand that our need to protect our own can be deemed unforgiving. But if we are able to communicate with the enemy, even if it is to protect our own, will we not have some kind of understanding as to why we are doing it ? This movie was not all about action. In fact the fights and action part comes in the 2nd half of the 2nd half. Until Koba goes to war. Till then it is about the trials and tribulations of each species trying to survive with another species whom they are not ready to trust. It is not emotional as the first movie though. Its like the kids growing up. Its all wonder and questions in the initial stages, the first movie. When they grow up and start to understand the world, its about co-existence, this movie. When life gets difficult it is all about survival of the fittest, hopefully the final movie. Soundtrack was too good as were the dialogues. And yes, Andy Serkis needs to be nominated for an award for his portrayal of Caesar.
Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes
Remember how I was telling you in my Trailer Rant post that I wouldn’t mind watching ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes‘ movie? Yup, watched it. Yay!!! And just loved it. Me thinks that Andy Serkis should be nominated for Best Actor in the next Oscars. It isn’t really fair you know. I just love his portrayal of Caesar. He should have got that in the first movie itself 😦 Poor guy. So what if he is acting with the face of an Ape. It is still his emotions and his expressions in it.
I guess it is only fair I give you this before I start saying anything else about the movie SPOILER ALERT. There now that , that is out of the way, let me go about the things I loved in the movie, which may or may not reveal the story line and the ending. The movie starts with the description of how the virus has killed half of the human race and how the apes who actually escaped into the Muir Woods are still not to be seen etc etc. According to Maurice, its been 10 winters (i.e. 10 years) since they spotted humans and I guess the humans also think the same from the other side of the woods, until they meet Ash and Blue Eyes (Caesar’s son) while they are trying to find something else. And one guy in the group accidentally shoots Ash and there comes the whole (since I don’t know the actual term let me use ) colony of apes in defense. This is when the humans learn that these apes aren’t the normal ones they are used to seeing in the zoos (or were used to seeing actually). When Caesar speaks and tells them ‘GO’ with a chorus from everyone else, they are in for a shock. The reason why they were there ? They wanted to start the hydro power from the dam beyond the place where the ape’s are currently residing to generate the power for their city and the small (again for lack of better term) colony of people who remain protected in it , safe / immune from the virus and the rest of the world.
Now they (humans) don’t have any other chance other than trying to either wage a war against the apes and get to the damn or give Malcolm, the only guy who is in a sort of OK-list with the apes, three days to ‘talk’ to them and get it to work. Koba, who was the one tortured in the earlier movie, doesn’t believe in humans. But Caesar controls him and gives the humans a chance and themselves a opportunity for peace. He doesn’t want his family (i.e. the whole of ape community) to suffer. They go back and forth with their trust issues where Malcolm and his group (his son, his lover and another two people) gain their trust with Caesar. And finally get the power on. But Koba goes and finds that humans are getting their weapons ready (but he doesn’t know that they weren’t going to use it unless they are forced to, he is not the bright one in the group) so he comes back and tries to warn Caesar who is not ready to give up. But then Koba does the total human villain thing, he shoots Caesar and tells everyone that the humans killed him and takes over the control and launches the war on humans. Blue Eyes, believes Koba and goes but when he sees who Koba is ruthless and kills his own ape (they have a code: Ape not kill ape) he starts to doubt his convictions against humans. Malcolm, his son and lover are saved by Maurice. They find Caesar and upon his insistence go back to Caesar’s first home (the one with James Franco? yeah, that one) where Malcolm gets Blue Eyes along with some medicine and saves Caesar. Caesar goes back and fights Koba but the war between the humans and apes becomes imminent because once the power was on, they already were able to connect with the rest of the survivors and had already called for reinforcements.
Well, that was about the story. God, my head would have burst if I wasn’t able to let it out. You don’t have any OMG+Gasp moment in this like the one we had in the first installment when Caesar first says the word ‘NO’. My God, in that movie, I had tears when he did that. In this it is more about how the ape’s live and the drama that happens in their community. Humans play the side characters (as my friend said it), it is more of supporting role for humans. Caesar says how he thought that Apes were better than humans and then finally realizes that they were just like them (Was that a reference to the full circle of life ?) . When the apes demand that they kill the human who came to their place, Caesar just lifts his hand and everyone is quiet and attentive. The same thing when people are worried about the apes and they are in chaos, and Alan Rickman tries to calm them but shouting in his mike, people start talking more, they just don’t listen. Seriously, some times I felt apes were much well behaved :). When Caesar and Koba fight, Koba says that he is fighting for the whole of Ape community, Caesar says that it wasn’t so. He was fighting for his own revenge against humans (which he couldn’t get in the first movie). At the end Caesar says only one thing to Malcolm when he says that reinforcements are coming so the apes better go and hide. Caesar says that the apes started the war, and humans don’t forgive, so there is no other choice other than to face it, I was struck by that line. Are we seriously that unforgiving ? Well, if we are fighting with an enemy whom we cannot understand or communicate, I understand that our need to protect our own can be deemed unforgiving. But if we are able to communicate with the enemy, even if it is to protect our own, will we not have some kind of understanding as to why we are doing it ? This movie was not all about action. In fact the fights and action part comes in the 2nd half of the 2nd half. Until Koba goes to war. Till then it is about the trials and tribulations of each species trying to survive with another species whom they are not ready to trust. It is not emotional as the first movie though. Its like the kids growing up. Its all wonder and questions in the initial stages, the first movie. When they grow up and start to understand the world, its about co-existence, this movie. When life gets difficult it is all about survival of the fittest, hopefully the final movie. Soundtrack was too good as were the dialogues. And yes, Andy Serkis needs to be nominated for an award for his portrayal of Caesar.
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