Cinema Report #29 - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
I’ve never been much of an ape fan (the animals itself), but I certainly always liked the idea of the Planet of the Apes films. This one continues a few years after the previous one, and it fits well into the development of this idea.
The humans struggle to keep going among the ruins of their cities - and they are still arrogant enough that they value their comfort higher than their survival. At first, they aren’t even aware that the apes are now more than mere animals. In turn, the apes still try to find out what they are now and what they could be. When they teach each other reading, writing and human language (both sign language and spoken words), it seems they strife to be more like humans. Yet they get only interested in their former “masters” when they accidentally stumble upon each other.
For the most part of the film, you wonder who the real animal is or what it actually means to be human. Both groups seem to be driven by the instinct to defend and enlarge their territory - and they use diplomacy, betrayal and violence to achieve that. The major difference is that the humans are led by a fanatic, they have weapons at hand and they don’t want to lose against animals. The leader of the apes wants peace and is willing to help those who once were their “masters”, because he sees their need and the advantages of that. Unfortunately, Cesar is too trusting and learns about the betrayal of his second-in-command almost too late. The human counterpart to this is a man who risks the shaky treaty with the apes by entering their territory again - but who is as interested in a co-existence as Cesar, which eventually earns genuine trust and friendship.
There were a few aspects of the film that didn’t quite work for me though.
Firstly, why did the apes insist on using human language? Admittedly, they seemed very well versed in sign-language, but since this needs eye-contact I just don’t see how this is can work in a large group of creatures who partially still use their hands for moving about. And although they will eventually learn to speak fluently (as seen in the old movies), it seems rather difficult for them at this time. I know, these apes have become more intelligent due to that virus, but shouldn’t that have increased their ability to communicate with their natural means more eloquently as well? However, I have to admit it’s always rather intimidating when one of them speaks.
Secondly, Cesar’s son is just annoyingly stupid for most of the story. Perhaps that should signal that he is still just a naïve teenager or something, but he is jealous without good reason and gets lured in by the crazy evil ape almost as easily as Anakin gets converted to the Dark Side of the Force. I admit, that the story probably wouldn’t have worked as it did without this character being such a prat, but I wish the authors could give them better reasons for such a behaviour.
I certainly would like to see more films of this sort. I didn’t mind the rubber masks of the old movies, they were very well made and still look somewhat great. But there is still quite a big gap between those story and where “Revolution” ended. Although the fate of humankind is a rather dark one, I hope they’ll show us how the actually ended up as slaves of the apes.
The humans struggle to keep going among the ruins of their cities - and they are still arrogant enough that they value their comfort higher than their survival. At first, they aren’t even aware that the apes are now more than mere animals. In turn, the apes still try to find out what they are now and what they could be. When they teach each other reading, writing and human language (both sign language and spoken words), it seems they strife to be more like humans. Yet they get only interested in their former “masters” when they accidentally stumble upon each other.
For the most part of the film, you wonder who the real animal is or what it actually means to be human. Both groups seem to be driven by the instinct to defend and enlarge their territory - and they use diplomacy, betrayal and violence to achieve that. The major difference is that the humans are led by a fanatic, they have weapons at hand and they don’t want to lose against animals. The leader of the apes wants peace and is willing to help those who once were their “masters”, because he sees their need and the advantages of that. Unfortunately, Cesar is too trusting and learns about the betrayal of his second-in-command almost too late. The human counterpart to this is a man who risks the shaky treaty with the apes by entering their territory again - but who is as interested in a co-existence as Cesar, which eventually earns genuine trust and friendship.
There were a few aspects of the film that didn’t quite work for me though.
Firstly, why did the apes insist on using human language? Admittedly, they seemed very well versed in sign-language, but since this needs eye-contact I just don’t see how this is can work in a large group of creatures who partially still use their hands for moving about. And although they will eventually learn to speak fluently (as seen in the old movies), it seems rather difficult for them at this time. I know, these apes have become more intelligent due to that virus, but shouldn’t that have increased their ability to communicate with their natural means more eloquently as well? However, I have to admit it’s always rather intimidating when one of them speaks.
Secondly, Cesar’s son is just annoyingly stupid for most of the story. Perhaps that should signal that he is still just a naïve teenager or something, but he is jealous without good reason and gets lured in by the crazy evil ape almost as easily as Anakin gets converted to the Dark Side of the Force. I admit, that the story probably wouldn’t have worked as it did without this character being such a prat, but I wish the authors could give them better reasons for such a behaviour.
I certainly would like to see more films of this sort. I didn’t mind the rubber masks of the old movies, they were very well made and still look somewhat great. But there is still quite a big gap between those story and where “Revolution” ended. Although the fate of humankind is a rather dark one, I hope they’ll show us how the actually ended up as slaves of the apes.