Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (film)

[bassman]

First Dawn of the Planet of the Apes poster:

http://www.joblo.com/posters/images/full/dawn-of-the-apes-poster-4.jpg


I like that it's the same as one of the posters for the first film, only now Ceasar has war paint on his face. Looking forward to this...

[rongravy]

I was wondering if they were ever going to make more. Awesome!

[Darkest Hour]

He looks mighty Po'ed.
Time for it's own thread?
Conquest of POTA almost re-inflamed race riots in the city I am originally from.
Not that was much left after 1967.
Uppity not much more to say about that time period.

DH

[kidgloves]

Trailer :eek:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0wP5ZkaUGg

[MinionZombie]

That looks pretty friggin' sweet to me.

I must dig into the other movies sometime as I've only seen the original, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. But yeah, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes looks pretty epic and atmospheric. :)

[bassman]

THAT is how you make a teaser. Not too much information and leaves you wanting more.

[Darkest Hour]

I finally saw the trailer and it is sort of slick.
Was that Gary Oldman with megaphone?Looking very much like his character in Book Of Eli.
I think it is kind of a cheap manipulation of the originals to substitute the virus killing people instead of the apes taking over city after city by violent uprising.But then the apes were never put into slavery and dogs and cats still were alive in this reboot.
So instead this one goes into a reboot of the events of Battle For The ***.
I think they should not have skipped the Conquest Of *** stage.
8 years (4 years fighting virus then mankind against himself for the dregs other 4) sure does make things look broken down and overgrown.
Flawless visuals,...the sandbagged ma deuce shot was kind of kickass.

DH

[bassman]

I think they should not have skipped the Conquest Of *** stage.

They didn't skip it. The previous film, "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" is essentially a remake of Conquest. It's the story of Caesar leading the apes to revolution. They basically just started the new series with Caesar's birth rather than have him be the child of time-traveling Cornelius and Zira from the original "Planet..." and "Beneath...".

[Darkest Hour]

Essentially?
Haul more rocks.

Respectfully disagree.
This showing was not a worldwide phenomenon of slave ape rebellion.Does the phrase emperor ape ring a bell?
That is what Caesar was.
Writing in the sky(ICBM bomber missile contrails)maybe there is radioactive rubble in this new one who can say at this point?
Merely an escape of one enclave of a small segment of a zoological curiosity of captive apes from a somewhat repressive "monkey house" across a bridge to a redwood forest does not = Conquest of the Planet of the Apes .That doody was worldwide!

I did not notice any nemesis or ally such as MacDonald or .gov Breck or the rest of a totalitarian cabal of nation-state leaders hunkering down in hardened bunkers.
Stick to Ghostbusters and Superman Batman Back to the Future posts(I keed /sarc).

Lovely short lived Mr.Comics adaptation below:
http://planetoftheapes.wikia.com/wiki/Revolution_on_the_Planet_of_the_Apes
This is what this movie should be.
CHURCHDOOR alpha and omega FTW

DH

[EvilNed]

It's been a couple of years ago since I saw Conquest. But wasn't it all just in one city? I never got the impression that it was worldwide. In the original Apes series, wasn't it a nuclear war that ended mans domination of earth? I seem to remember that backstory being related in Beneath. The fall of man simply coincided with the rise of the Apes.

Then Battle came along and was sort of a middle ground, set a few years after Conquest, and there we see cities ruined by what I can only guess are nuclear warheads.

So yeah, the virus is substituting the nuclear warheads, but then again that's just a modernisation for the 2000's. Nukes are soooo last century.

[wayzim]

It's been a couple of years ago since I saw Conquest. But wasn't it all just in one city? I never got the impression that it was worldwide. In the original Apes series, wasn't it a nuclear war that ended mans domination of earth? I seem to remember that backstory being related in Beneath. The fall of man simply coincided with the rise of the Apes.

Then Battle came along and was sort of a middle ground, set a few years after Conquest, and there we see cities ruined by what I can only guess are nuclear warheads.

So yeah, the virus is substituting the nuclear warheads, but then again that's just a modernisation for the 2000's. Nukes are soooo last century.

You're right, in the original conquest film, Caesar simply showed other ape groups in other cities the way - and still it took time. It wasn't even the first scenario, as that was brought about by a gorilla named Aldo in another time-line. The arrival of Zira and Cornelius, as well as the birth of milo ( who later renamed himself Caesar ) set up a paradox that accelerated the revolt by several hundred years. How and why humans set off the nukes, it seemed more about war between themselves than with the apes.

But also, in Pierre Boulle's source novel for all of this, some germ or other toxin was largely responsible for driving humanity literally back to a primal mute existence. So let's just say Dawn is splitting the difference, and stop splitting hairs. I sorta/kinda liked the first reimaging? (even with James Franco ) so this looks like a well reasoned followup to that. I loved the original quintology? ( five films? ) - alot - and was amused by the seventies cartoon show and the tv series, but I really hated Tim Burton's mess. So when I say this sequel shows promise, you're hearing it from a long long time fan of all things POTA.

Wayne Z

[EvilNed]

I loved the original trilogy - alot - and was amused by the seventies cartoon show and the tv series, but I really hated Tim Burton's mess. So when I say this sequel shows promise, you're hearing it from a long long time fan of all things POTA.

Wayne Z

You can't be that much of a fan if you think it's a trilogy... ;)

[wayzim]

You can't be that much of a fan if you think it's a trilogy... ;)

In keeping with the season, I had to check my post twice ... hee.
Must be that by the fifth film of the original series, the budget and inspiration had gone down so low, I wanted to just forget that Battle For POTA had ever been made. But that would still leave us with four, wouldn't it?

Must be that super virus dancing the fandango through my already holiday traumatized brain.

Paul Williams as Virgil was pretty cool in Battle For, though.

Wayne Z

[krisvds]

The original films must be my most revisited set of scifi - films.
My appreciation of them seems a bit different from the rest of humanity's as I like 'Beneath' as much as the original and I have no problems whatsoever with the low budget 'Battle'.
My favourite is Conquest though.

I'm so happy they didn't screw up this reboot. I was shocked at how much I enjoyed the first one. Very much looking forward to the new one. The marketing for this brings some good graphic design. Check out the seventies vibe in the online 'comic' on the original site.
http://www.dawnofapes.com/#comic

Both those first and last pages would make for better filmposters than what thay are going for with that, admittedly already nice, Caesar in warpaint portrait.

[bassman]

Essentially?
Haul more rocks.

Respectfully disagree.
This showing was not a worldwide phenomenon of slave ape rebellion.Does the phrase emperor ape ring a bell?
That is what Caesar was.
Writing in the sky(ICBM bomber missile contrails)maybe there is radioactive rubble in this new one who can say at this point?
Merely an escape of one enclave of a small segment of a zoological curiosity of captive apes from a somewhat repressive "monkey house" across a bridge to a redwood forest does not = Conquest of the Planet of the Apes .That doody was worldwide!

I did not notice any nemesis or ally such as MacDonald or .gov Breck or the rest of a totalitarian cabal of nation-state leaders hunkering down in hardened bunkers.
Stick to Ghostbusters and Superman Batman Back to the Future posts(I keed /sarc).

Lovely short lived Mr.Comics adaptation below:
http://planetoftheapes.wikia.com/wiki/Revolution_on_the_Planet_of_the_Apes
This is what this movie should be.
CHURCHDOOR alpha and omega FTW

DH

Wow....this type of post look familiar to anyone else?...


You should really re-watch Conquest if you think it's global. It's actually in a smaller scale than "Rise". It's all within the same complex within the same city.

And although it's not a by-the-books remake of Conquest, which I mentioned, what other film in the original series would you say it's closest to? Caesar is the more intelligent ape, he's confined within a "prison", his human companion is killed or taken away, the apes are abused, Caesar trains the apes to fight back, they leave the "prison" complex, then take over the city. Seems pretty close to Conquest, if you ask me. Not to mention the writers clearly state that Conquest was the film they wanted to draw the most inspiration from.

[AcesandEights]

The original films must be my most revisited set of scifi - films.
My appreciation of them seems a bit different from the rest of humanity's as I like 'Beneath' as much as the original and I have no problems whatsoever with the low budget 'Battle'.

I actually have grown, over the years, to really appreciate Battle. I didn't really understand whether it was supposed to be a closed loop, or alternate timeline...or lead to an alternate timeline when I was watching as a little kid, so it seemed weird and off putting to me. Can't blame yuonger-me really, as the original writer who did the treatment seems to have varyingly maintained the story is a closed loop in the past, despite it clearly leading to open line possibility.

I think it was a great way to end the series.

[bassman]

I suppose it's open to interpretation, but I've always felt Battle made it a closed loop. After Battle, it would later lead into the original "Planet..." or at least a variation of it. Although...was Caesar's son Cornelius supposed to be the Cornelius from Planet-Conquest?

[wayzim]

I suppose it's open to interpretation, but I've always felt Battle made it a closed loop. After Battle, it would later lead into the original "Planet..." or at least a variation of it. Although...was Caesar's son Cornelius supposed to be the Cornelius from Planet-Conquest?

I wouldn't think so, if it's a closed loop. And I'm fairly sure that this is an alternate time line.
The original leader of the ape rebellion was a gorilla named Aldo, who was the first to utter the word NO, as had been done so by their human masters. But this took place hundreds of years after the great plague which had killed off all the dogs and cats. In Escape From POTA, when Zira gave birth to Milo/Caesar, he became the new leader, who could speak because his parents could. Sound about right?

Wayne Z

[bassman]

I wouldn't think so, if it's a closed loop. And I'm fairly sure that this is an alternate time line.
The original leader of the ape rebellion was a gorilla named Aldo, who was the first to utter the word NO, as had been done so by their human masters. But this took place hundreds of years after the great plague which had killed off all the dogs and cats. In Escape From POTA, when Zira gave birth to Milo/Caesar, he became the new leader, who could speak because his parents could. Sound about right?

Wayne Z

Although events had been changed due to Cornelius and Zira's time travelling, Aldo was technically in Battle. He asks if Ape should ever kill man, everyone panics, then he later says No to his human teacher, iirc. Not exactly the same as the original timeline, but similar in a way.

There are so many similarities and differences at the same time, I think it was meant to be open to the viewer's opinion. There are good arguments for both sides as to whether it was the same timeline loop or an alternate timeline.

[Darkest Hour]

WZ seems to have a grip on this topic.Others,not so much.

DH

[Neil]

Official site up - http://www.dawnofapes.com/

[bassman]

New poster:

http://www.joblo.com/newsimages1/dawn-image-1-3-31.jpg

Could that baby be Cornelius?!?

[Neil]

^^ CGI is getting amazing!

[bassman]

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Really looking forward to this...

[krisvds]

Me too.
Who would have thought the first one would turn out so good? One of the very few actually good remakes/re-imaginings in recent years.

[Neil]

Clever stuff isn't it! Not just the motion capture, but the fact the human characters, and all their gubbins so so perfectly chopped out and replaced with an ape and/or background (that wasn't caught on film because things were in the way).

8qYyEM224z8

[Neil]

eb8B-bAr_WE

[krisvds]

I was looking forward to this sequel before, now I am really looking forward to it.
The only thing I dislike is Caesar's voice; it's like he's impersonating Nolan's Batman or something ...

DpSaTrW4leg

[Neil]

^^ Shame these trailers are showing so much :( Stopped half way thru!

[wayzim]

^^ Shame these trailers are showing so much :( Stopped half way thru!

I'm still stoked. :)

[bassman]

Love the ape playing dumb and getting control of the guns. :)

[Neil]

AICN love it - http://www.aintitcool.com/node/67841


Truly amazing wizardry is at play. This is what a summer blockbuster looks like when a filmmaker really cares about every nuance of his craft. It isn’t just about the images that are put on screen, but the soul beneath it all. DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES has a beautiful noble soul at its center…

[Neil]

More love from Cinemablend - http://www.cinemablend.com/reviews/Dawn-of-the-Planet-of-the-Apes-6880.html


This groundbreaking, challenging and immensely rewarding sequel offers audiences a veritable feast consisting of mature science-fiction themes, complex emotional performances (both human and digital), and riveting combat set pieces.

[Neil]

And yet more AICN love - http://www.aintitcool.com/node/67958


I'm happy to say it exceeded those expectations by a wide margin. Emotional, beautiful, terrifying, and satisfying, DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is one of the best sequels I've ever seen.

[AcesandEights]

Starting to get a little amped about this.

[follyu]

Dawn of the planet of Apes is one of the greatest sci-fi movie of this year. Loved the previous part and I know this sequel will be better than the previous one.

[bassman]

It's amazing to think that they were able to successfully reboot one of the greatest science fictions series' of all time with not only one film, but now they're two for two. I loved "Dawn". That's not to say it doesn't have a few minor flaws here and there, but as a whole it's a very successful science fiction film. As soon as the movie starts you're just immediately catapulted into this post apocalyptic world of San Francisco and the hits just keep on coming for two hours. There's quite a bit of action in the film, but for the most part it seems to be evenly paced and balanced out with the more story-driven moments. The greatest thing is that this isn't one of those sequels that feels like the writers sat down and said "alright....this time we need bigger, flashier, and louder!!". Instead it feels more like they had the right motivation of wanting to progress the story of Caesar so that the audience can see what he's become and what he will continue to become after the events of "Rise".

A few spoiler-free random thoughts to cap this off....

- There are thankfully no forced references to the original apes series like we saw in "Rise". There are a few here and there, but they're not as obnoxious as the previous. The most noticeable is probably hints to Jerry Goldsmith's legendary original score. Keep and ear out for that.
- The villain of the film will surprise you. Let's just say the trailers haven't been straight-forward, which is surprising these days...
- Andy Serkis deserves the highest of praise for his performance as Caesar. It's astounding.
- The CGI apes have improved even more since the last film. There will be a few moments where you notice it's CG(mostly in action scenes), but most of the time you'll be so wrapped up in the story and the CG is so good that you'll completely forget.
- I'm so glad Director Matt Reeves and Cinematographer Michael Seresin are already attached to the third film. Reeves knows how to balance the characters while providing the thrills and creates one of the most well-planned summer blockbuster films in years. Seresin created a visually beautiful yet gloomy apocalyptic world with wonderful contrasts. For people that pay attention to camera placement and movements, keep an eye out for the "tank shot". It's amazing!
- Gary Oldman felt under used and didn't pull off his return to villainy like I'd hoped. He was good with the time he had, but you'll see what I mean.
- The humans in general are a bit lacking with development. Whether this is a mishap or not, I can't tell because the apes are so wonderfully written. They're absolutely the main focus of the film. You'll easily get more emotional feelings for the apes than you will for the humans.
- Not absolute remakes, but if you had to compare these new films to the originals based on any sort of basic premise, I'd say Rise was Conquest and Dawn is Battle. Makes me wonder where they'll go from here? Their own direction or loop back around to something like Taylor/time travel/mutants/etc?
- Speaking of, while this is obviously a science fiction film, I feel like the series could use just a touch more science mumbo jumbo in the next installment. Rise had the laboratory and virus on it's side, but Dawn feels like it's lacking all of that and is more of an action film, so I'd like to see a tad more scifi thrown in later...
- There are a few cliché action movie moments, especially toward the climax, but they're executed well.

I'm trying my best to keep this all spoiler free, so it might seem a bit jumbled. Suffice to say, I highly recommend it. If you're a fan of the original series or the reboot "Rise", this should be a no-brainer. Do some of the early reviews make it seem a bit TOO hyped? Yeah, they really do. Try to ignore that stuff and judge it on your own terms with an open mind. It has it's fair share of flaws, but still a damn fine sequel to an amazing reboot. And it's doing wonderfully financially, which shocks me a bit considering it's not a superhero movie.... 7.5/10

[Neil]

Seeing this tomorrow night!

[Neil]

It's amazing to think that they were able to successfully reboot one of the greatest science fictions series' of all time with not only one film, but now they're two for two. I loved "Dawn". That's not to say it doesn't have a few minor flaws here and there, but as a whole it's a very successful science fiction film. As soon as the movie starts you're just immediately catapulted into this post apocalyptic world of San Francisco and the hits just keep on coming for two hours. There's quite a bit of action in the film, but for the most part it seems to be evenly paced and balanced out with the more story-driven moments. The greatest thing is that this isn't one of those sequels that feels like the writers sat down and said "alright....this time we need bigger, flashier, and louder!!". Instead it feels more like they had the right motivation of wanting to progress the story of Caesar so that the audience can see what he's become and what he will continue to become after the events of "Rise".

A few spoiler-free random thoughts to cap this off....

- There are thankfully no forced references to the original apes series like we saw in "Rise". There are a few here and there, but they're not as obnoxious as the previous. The most noticeable is probably hints to Jerry Goldsmith's legendary original score. Keep and ear out for that.
- The villain of the film will surprise you. Let's just say the trailers haven't been straight-forward, which is surprising these days...
- Andy Serkis deserves the highest of praise for his performance as Caesar. It's astounding.
- The CGI apes have improved even more since the last film. There will be a few moments where you notice it's CG(mostly in action scenes), but most of the time you'll be so wrapped up in the story and the CG is so good that you'll completely forget.
- I'm so glad Director Matt Reeves and Cinematographer Michael Seresin are already attached to the third film. Reeves knows how to balance the characters while providing the thrills and creates one of the most well-planned summer blockbuster films in years. Seresin created a visually beautiful yet gloomy apocalyptic world with wonderful contrasts. For people that pay attention to camera placement and movements, keep an eye out for the "tank shot". It's amazing!
- Gary Oldman felt under used and didn't pull off his return to villainy like I'd hoped. He was good with the time he had, but you'll see what I mean.
- The humans in general are a bit lacking with development. Whether this is a mishap or not, I can't tell because the apes are so wonderfully written. They're absolutely the main focus of the film. You'll easily get more emotional feelings for the apes than you will for the humans.
- Not absolute remakes, but if you had to compare these new films to the originals based on any sort of basic premise, I'd say Rise was Conquest and Dawn is Battle. Makes me wonder where they'll go from here? Their own direction or loop back around to something like Taylor/time travel/mutants/etc?
- Speaking of, while this is obviously a science fiction film, I feel like the series could use just a touch more science mumbo jumbo in the next installment. Rise had the laboratory and virus on it's side, but Dawn feels like it's lacking all of that and is more of an action film, so I'd like to see a tad more scifi thrown in later...
- There are a few cliché action movie moments, especially toward the climax, but they're executed well.

I'm trying my best to keep this all spoiler free, so it might seem a bit jumbled. Suffice to say, I highly recommend it. If you're a fan of the original series or the reboot "Rise", this should be a no-brainer. Do some of the early reviews make it seem a bit TOO hyped? Yeah, they really do. Try to ignore that stuff and judge it on your own terms with an open mind. It has it's fair share of flaws, but still a damn fine sequel to an amazing reboot. And it's doing wonderfully financially, which shocks me a bit considering it's not a superhero movie.... 7.5/10

I agree with all of this! I went in expecting more so felt a little deflated. But I did enjoy it and would agree with your 7.5/10!

2-3 weeks away from no fuel and they wait until THEN to go and check the dam out?

[EvilNed]

Saw it last night. Really liked it. Come to think of it, the Apes franchise is probably one of my favorite sci-fi series', saving for Tim Burton's outing which was truly catastrophic (mostly becuase of the acting and writing, however, the design was good).

If anything, I'd wanted it to maybe be a bit darker...

When the apes broke through the barricades, I half expected them to start killing people, seeing the rage they'd built up. It would be hard for a mass of anger like that to contain itself in that kind of situation. I understand why that would maybe have been to dark, but it still would have made for a very chilling scene.

[AcesandEights]

Yeah, all in all I was very pleased with this follow up. It felt a bit long, but there was enough story and detail packed in to make it well worth sitting through and the effects and set pieces were fantastic.

[bassman]

Anybody else pick up on that "Tank Shot" I mentioned earlier in the thread? I accidentally yelled out "whoa!" when it happened. Simple, but really cool I thought.

[EvilNed]

Anybody else pick up on that "Tank Shot" I mentioned earlier in the thread? I accidentally yelled out "whoa!" when it happened. Simple, but really cool I thought.

I know which one you're talking about. It was a cool shot, but if I were to over-analyze it (which I won't do) I could probably come up with a few reasons why I felt it was a bit too long.

[kidgloves]

Just seen it as well and agree with all the positives. 3rd act was maybe just a little bit too long if I'm going to be critical.

[rongravy]

Just seen it as well and agree with all the positives. 3rd act was maybe just a little bit too long if I'm going to be critical.
I kind of wish they could've gotten to it a bit quicker. It got longer for me in the middle.
I also wish they didn't still look like they came out of a video game. Maybe it's just the eyes...
I did like it, though. I wanted more war, more hunt.
Either way, ready for another one. I enjoyed the somewhat Franco cameo, via video camera loving on a younger Caesar.
Good movie to watch in the theater.