Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Review: Shakespeare of the Apes

Apes with attitude in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Photo Credit: 20th Century Fox

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

A

A review by Frederick Cholowski

See summer blockbusters can have souls as well. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the second film in the freshly rebooted Planet of the Apes saga proves that summer blockbusters don’t have to be a ton of flash with little to no substance. It’s a film of characters, emotional devastation, and sci-fi allegory first and action film second. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a success on nearly every level and after a dud of a film dominating multiplexes for the last two weeks, a welcome rejuvenation.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes picks up an unspecified time after Rise, with the virus introduced at the end of the previous film having wiped out almost all of human society. The apes led by their compassionate leader Ceasar (Andy Serkis) are doing just fine in these primitive conditions having created a peaceful society in a forest after the events of the first films. All seems to be going ok until a society of humans led by Malcolm (Jason Clarke) and Dreyfus (Gary Oldman) run into the apes and the two societies clash. Both seem to see the worst in each other and seem to want nothing to do with one another. But when the human colony requires the use of a dam to try and extend their power, the apes and humans have to try to work together which disturbs certain members of each society especially the warring ape Koba (Toby Kebbell) who despises humans and even considers an uprising agains Cesar to rid of all association with them.

The plot of Dawn plays out in the style of a Shakespeare tragedy. All the characters presented in the film, especially the apes, are all set up as fascinating and complex figures from the film’s opening frame providing a great backdrop for the action to unfold. The film also takes its time to set up all the different conflicts before the inevitable clash, letting the characters and the world take centre stage in order to make all the events at the end of the film cary extraordinary weight. 

That being said it’s not as if the film is devoid of action. Cloverfield director Matt Reves really stretches his chops throughout the course of this one providing one beautifully framed sequence to another. Reves uses long sweeping takes to accentuate the action and create a beautiful almost detached look to the film. While the film features many chaotic action sequences the direction decides to keep the camera movement big and calm allowing for a coherent and beautiful experience.

The CGI in this film also adds to this gorgeous experience. The apes in this film look amazing and almost humanlike throughout the film. The biggest compliment that I can give is that the facials and eyes of the apes managed to bring me into the experience even more. I believed that these apes could exist and emote in these ways. It never looked silly and never pulled me out of the experience and it allowed me to actually relate to these apes almost as if they were humans.

Not enough can be said about the amazing work of Andy Serkis. Sure he is represented by a CGI figure but that doesn’t make the performance any less extraordinary. Serkis really makes Ceasar as close to human as an ape character could possibly be as well as a great tragic figure. None of the other performances are nearly as extraordinary but they all serve their purposes very well and don’t necessarily have to be, Oldman is there to deliver big time speeches and dramatic moments, Clarke is there to be a relatable human character, and the CGIed up Kebbell provides the perfect villain. All the performances really centre around Serkis’ work though and the film is better for it.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is the perhaps the best that 2014’s blockbuster crop has provided so far. The film puts characters and world building first and allows its elements to sizzle before anything boils. The film is also just an example of good science fiction filmmaking, great direction, a well put together allegory that can make you think and some great action. It’s a near great film and a reminder that despite a few duds the summer of 2014 has been memorable in good ways.

The Halftime Top 5 2014

An image from Like Father, Like Son one of the best films of 2014 so far

Photo Credit: Mongrel Media

It’s about halfway through the year (well give or take) so it’s time to see just how good of a year in film it’s been so far. These are the best of the best of what I’ve seen as of the end of June and I’ve got to say this is a decent list. Many of these films actually have a chance to be on the end of the year top 10 and I had a legitimately hard time pairing this down to just five. So lets get going here are my five favourite films in 2014:

Honourable Mention:

Her

Her is technically a 2013 film but it didn’t open in Vancouver until 2014 and thus I didn’t have a chance to see it at the end of last year. The film itself is a lovely and fascinating look at love of both technology and in a long distance situation. I love this film but decided to eliminate it from 2014 contention simply because it already had its awards moment and really is a 2013 film.

5. X-Men: Days of Future Past

The most ambitious of this year’s Summer Blockbuster crowd so far X:Men Days of Future Past managed to be the sweet spot of this Summer’s biggest films. The plot manages to work despite all of its intricacies, the characters are all well rounded and detailed, and it even managed to have some really cool action sequences. This is the best superhero film since The Dark Knight Rises and the best Blockbuster of 2014.

4. Locke

Tom Hardy driving a car while taking phone calls for an hour and a half doesn’t sound like a great film idea but Locke manages to make it work extraordinarily. The great performance from Tom Hardy and the fascinating character arc experienced throughout this film make it a true winner. Bring on some more great actor talking on the phone in a car films!

3. Under the Skin

Bold, beautiful, and fascinating Under the Skin is one of the strangest and most rewarding films of 2014. Anchored by a great performance by Scarlett Johanson, a truly devastating message about female sexuality, and beautiful technical filmmaking Under the Skin is a great example of thinking man’s Sci-Fi. Sure this film isn’t for everyone, on the surface it may seem like Johnanson walking around the countryside of Ireland picking up men, but look even slightly amount deeper and you’ve got something truly special in Under the Skin.

2. The Raid 2

A symphony of violence and the best action film I’ve seen in a number of years The Raid 2 is an absolute blast. This film features some of the best shot action sequences I have ever seen, from great one on one fights to the best car chase since the French Connection. But this film isn’t great entirely for its action, the film boosted the ambition with a fun undercover cop plot and some very interesting character arcs. That whole film culminates in a final hour that is one of the most intense and amazing sequences I have ever lay witness to.

1. Like Father, Like Son

A festival darling in 2013 Like Father, Like Son finally hit mainstream theatres in early 2014 and the results are dazzling. This film hit me on an emotional level that has yet to be topped in 2014 providing beautiful and challenging moments that could be devastating at one point and joyful at others. The achievement of this film is dazzling, taking a premise that might seem manipulative and melodramatic on paper and transforming it into a film that is beautifully grounded and strikingly emotional. Seek out Like Father, Like Son and don’t be afraid of the subtitles because the ultimate experience is well worth it.

Transformers: Age of Extinction Review: Robots and Explosions

Optimus Prime and his sword in Transformers Age of Extinction

Transformers: Age of Extinction

D-

A Review by Frederick Cholowski

Films are escapist entertainment. They are supposed to take you to places far away that are, most of the time, simplified versions of real life issues; I get it. My question is who the heck would want to take up nearly three hours of their lives to escape to the brain dead world of the latest Transformers film? It’s hard for me to grasp just how much money this atrocity is going to make around the world and it’s sad because without exaggeration that’s what the latest Transformers film is, an atrocity. Nearly nothing redeeming can be taken from Transformers: Age of Extinction which is an excruciating ride through the worst of American blockbuster filmmaking.

The plot of Age of Extinction is so convoluted and idiotic it might just not be worth describing. The story follows a Texas mechanic/inventor Cade Yaeger (Mark Wahlberg) and his daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz) as they become fugitives after finding a beat up Optimums Prime sitting in an abandoned movie theatre. They’re on the run from a special CIA squad funded by Billionaire tech mogul Joshua Joyce (Stanley Tucci)  who are tasked with ridding all the Transformers from the world five years after the events of Chicago depicted in the last film. While on the run they have to find the rest of the hiding Autobots and try to stop many different evil parties from gaining “The Seed” a device that can create a mass amount of material that the transformers are made from (named Transformium by the humans in this film) and has the potential to wipe out a lot of people if put in the wrong hands.

There is so much that attempts to go on throughout Age of Extinction and a grand total of zero of those things are done well. The plot feels as if it was taken from two separate films and none of it works at all. The family portion of the film is groan worthy because all of the human characters (especially the brutally annoying Tessa) feel like they come from a cookie cutter. The action in this film feels like an animated film there is so much CGI. I nearly fell asleep during the last hour of this film because it feels like at this point I’ve seen at least twenty cities blow up in the exact same way (heck even just a Transformers film ago).  There is nothing in this film that grabs the interest which make is hard to care about virtually everything that ends up blowing up near the end.

The other massive problem with Age of Extinction is that it is two hours and forty six freaking minutes long. Not only that but because it’s so dumb and dull it feels like it takes an eternity to get over and done with. At an hour and a half this film would have already excruciating and this film almost goes twice as long. By the end of the film the only thing that was on my mind was thank goodness I can escape this theater. Whenever that is the first thing on one’s mind at the end of a film it’s hard to call it a success on any level.

The acting (well if you can call it that) in this film is nearly non apparent. The Michael Bay formula is such that most of the actors job is to deliver a few lines of unfunny stinted dialogue and then stare at things whether through amazement, frustration etc. The one exception and the one dim light at the end of this terrible terrible tunnel is Stanley Tucci who gets to chew on some scenery and also gets the one good one liner of the film (that gets the token f-bomb of the film). The most excruciating piece of acting (although I am sure the script had more to do with it than the performance) is Nicola Peltz who plays the single most annoying female character in the history of film (ok maybe not but close) as she is as bad if not worse depicted than any horror film femme fetal.

The film doesn’t look particularly good either. There is an obnoxious amount of slow motion in this film to the point that it is aggravating. It seems like every second scene of this film uses the device and by the end of the film it is used so often that it has no effect whatsoever. As mentioned earlier the action sequences aren’t particularly great either as they all have way to much CGI and no one to latch on and thus I don’t care at all. Seeing this in IMAX was also distracting as well as some of it was shot in Digital IMAX and thus aspect ratio changes were a plenty. This doesn’t usually bug me in fact it often enhances a film but in Age of Extinction the aspect ratio seems to change every second scene. It seems that there was no plan to what exactly what was shot in IMAX or how the film would look when it would ultimately come together and that’s just lazy. Ultimately it seems that IMAX actually takes away from the film, something I don’t say too often.

Simply Transformers: Age of Extinction is just atrocious. There are so many reasons why that it begins to be a headache trying to list all of them let alone sit through the film. The most frustrating thing of all is that this terrible film is going to potentially 100 million dollars on its opening weekend. Why people are going to see this terrible terrible film is mindboggling and if you are even thinking about the possibility of doing so I have two words for you, do not!