Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes (2014)

[Goffe]

I don't know what to say, one part of me thinks that the first hour was terrible simply because there was no one to root, relate or to care about, the other part of me thinks that the rest of the movie is simply spectacular, best of the year material. There are also some glaring plot holes (like leaving the guns far away from the colony) and annoying exposition, the first 30 minutes is basically all exposition ugh. 85/100

Edited July 18, 2014 by Goffe

[Goffe]

B+I honestly think that's the highest score I can give this prequel series. Don't get me wrong: the movie's production is as good as they say, the writing is smart, and it's a good movie. At the same time, I don't really want to see this movie again: I can't imagine myself being able to truly enjoy this series.Planet of the Apes is a classic and I enjoy it but that movie didn't really ask me to root against humanity. These prequel series...even if Caesar doesn't want it, it's going to lead to the downfall of human civilization and that...unsettles me so much that I can't help but wish the apes would all die.You know it's not like this movie is really doing anything so revolutionary: we watch disaster and monster flicks for a reason but the thing this movie has is that we know that things don't work well out for us. Granted, I'm not saying I don't like bad endings but I like holding out on the hope that everything will turn out okay...and in those movies, I'm right 95% of the time. But with these movies, there is no hope.And yes, you can say this movie is about the Apes and it very much is but I'm also a human being and I have a tendency to root for the survival and prosperity of my species. I get the series but I can't get behind it.

exactly what I think

[Goffe]

I don't like how manipulative this film is, I mean we see a lot Apes dying in the battle with dramatic music, and yet we barely see any human loss.

[4815162342]

Very good film, but there were two flaws of some note:

 

1) The human side of the story is relatively underdeveloped. We get a very strong sense of the Ape village and their society and tensions, but we get very little of the same for the San Fran Colony as they utterly disappear for near half the movie. Oldman's character got one small scene of characterization (the iPad) and otherwise just shouted a lot.

 

2) The second half of the film drops a lot of plot by the wayside or stops short of finishing it. For example we never see the two other guys with Clarke/Russell/McPhee after they start running, they just disappear. All the caged humans who escape in the chaos caused by Maurice et al escaping are never seen again and no one among the apes mentions this to the Clarke/Russell/McPhee trio. Another example is that the trailer shows endgame things (like a human warship moving in the water) that don't show up at all.

 

 

So I get the feeling that there was a longer cut out there as late as May or so that got edited down by the studio.

[CoolioD1]

Very good film, but there were two flaws of some note:

 

1) The human side of the story is relatively underdeveloped. We get a very strong sense of the Ape village and their society and tensions, but we get very little of the same for the San Fran Colony as they utterly disappear for near half the movie. Oldman's character got one small scene of characterization (the iPad) and otherwise just shouted a lot.

 

2) The second half of the film drops a lot of plot by the wayside or stops short of finishing it. For example we never see the two other guys with Clarke/Russell/McPhee after they start running, they just disappear. All the caged humans who escape in the chaos caused by Maurice et al escaping are never seen again and no one among the apes mentions this to the Clarke/Russell/McPhee trio. Another example is that the trailer shows endgame things (like a human warship moving in the water) that don't show up at all.

 

 

So I get the feeling that there was a longer cut out there as late as May or so that got edited down by the studio.

According to reeves the shot of warships approaching that you see in the trailer was the very end of the movie, the cliffhanger for the next one. the ending they have probably works better imo.

[AniNate]

I don't like how manipulative this film is, I mean we see a lot Apes dying in the battle with dramatic music, and yet we barely see any human loss.

 

You don't? You see quite a few humans being attacked. Most of them were running for cover so of course they probably didn't have as many dramatic deaths at the apes did.

[4815162342]

According to reeves the shot of warships approaching that you see in the trailer was the very end of the movie, the cliffhanger for the next one. the ending they have probably works better imo.

Ah OK. I wondered if it was that or we got a little more like the surviving humans bring evacuated.

[darkelf]

So I get the feeling that there was a longer cut out there as late as May or so that got edited down by the studio.

 

There will be an extended cut:

http://www.movie-censorship.com/news.php?ID=7613

[ddddeeee]

Wonderful.

[Warhorse]

It was alright, but I won't buy this when it comes out on Blu-ray, I found myself drifting away in some scenes (surprisingly, the battle scenes. They were just so anti-climatic for me) and the human characters were very undeveloped. The movie lost all of it's charm it had in the first one.

[75Live]

I enjoyed the movie and I won't add much to what a lot of people have said already.

 

Water Bottle and numbers probably put it best for me.

 

I like a lot of it but there was just a little something missing for me that would make it an obvious A.

 

At this point, I am leaning towards the A-/B+ area.  Still very good, but just a bit short of being great

[baumer]

Not so much a review, but my take on Koba.  First of all, I did like the movie a lot but it doesn't have as much emotional resonance as the first one simply because that one dealt with a lot of issues that I support and believe in, so it has a really special place in my mind and heart.  But still, a terrific film.

 

As for Koba, I sympathized with him.  I didn't condone him trying to kill Caesar but he did what he thought was necessary.  He and Caesar has two very different upbringings.  Caeser was loved and cared for and Koba was a piece of meat, a laboratory experiment.  He was tortured, unloved and abused at the hands of humans,  He has nothing but contempt for them.  When he sees Caesar taking their side, all Koba sees is a future of pain.  And who can blame him?  Koba took it too far but ultimately he was trying to protect himself and his fellow apes.

 

And what happens to the black guy in the film?  He just disappears and he's never mentioned again.

Edited July 19, 2014 by baumer

[The Panda]

Not so much a review, but my take on Koba.  First of all, I did like the movie a lot but it doesn't have as much emotional resonance as the first one simply because that one dealt with a lot of issues that I support and believe in, so it has a really special place in my mind and heart.  But still, a terrific film.

 

As for Koba, I sympathized with him.  I didn't condone him trying to kill Caesar but he did what he thought was necessary.  He and Caesar has two very different upbringings.  Caeser was loved and cared for and Koba was a piece of meat, a laboratory experiment.  He was tortured, unloved and abused at the hands of humans,  He has nothing but contempt for them.  When he sees Caesar taking their side, all Koba sees is a future of pain.  And who can blame him?  Koba took it too far but ultimately he was trying to protect himself and his fellow apes.

 

And what happens to the black guy in the film?  He just disappears and he's never mentioned again.

 

Yeah I was wondering what happened to Maurice and the trio at the end.

[baumer]

Yeah I was wondering what happened to Maurice and the trio at the end.

 

At least Maurice is shown after he gets out of his prison.  The black dude, the one who escorts the asshole to the truck and tells him t stay there, is never seen from again.

[The Panda]

At least Maurice is shown after he gets out of his prison.  The black dude, the one who escorts the asshole to the truck and tells him t stay there, is never seen from again.

 

I would have liked to see something with that character, but he wasn't important enough to the point where I overly cared what happened.  I wanted to see some Maurice closure more.

[CoolioD1]

At least Maurice is shown after he gets out of his prison.  The black dude, the one who escorts the asshole to the truck and tells him t stay there, is never seen from again.

he's in one scene after that, iirc. I guess him and that other other guy got their asses beat when the apes were chasing them.

[baumer]

I would have liked to see something with that character, but he wasn't important enough to the point where I overly cared what happened.  I wanted to see some Maurice closure more.

 

But forget about closure, it's just never mentioned where he went or what happened to him.

[The Panda]

But forget about closure, it's just never mentioned where he went or what happened to him.

 

You can assume they got captured or killed by the Apes, they weren't important enough characters for it to overly matter.

[baumer]

I think its important to give us some kind of explanation on any character that is as big a role as he had.

[The Panda]

I think its important to give us some kind of explanation on any character that is as big a role as he had.

 

True, I just can understand why it wasn't as big of a deal to explain what happened to him.