Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Posted by Itheliving 10 years, 8 months ago to Movies
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes / Rated PG-13 for violence, language and apes living in unsanitary conditions.
Pierre Boulle (1912-1994) was a French writer known for two literary works made into successful films. Based on his own WWII experiences as an Engineer, he penned The Bridge over the River Kwai which was published in 1952 and was a big best seller. It was made into a film and debuted in 1957. It was a fictional account of his WWII experiences as a prisoner of war involved in bridge building for Japan. The film won 7 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actor for Alec Guiness’ great performance.
Other works were successful but it wasn’t till his book, La planet de singes in 1963, that he hit it big again. It was translated into English and published in 1964 as Monkey Planet. The title was changed to Planet of the Apes. The film, directed by Franklin Schaffner premiered to wide acclaim in 1968 and starred Charlton Heston. The rest is history. Four sequels from 1970 through 1973 followed. “Apemania” reached it’s zenith with toys and games, a Marvel comic book and animated TV series. A Tim Burton directed remake came out in 2001 then in 2011 the series rebooted with a sequel following and now playing.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is well made but a little too long for the storyline and action sequences. Andy Serkis, who is a brilliant actor, again plays the ape Caesar. He had a bigger role as the ape King Kong in the most recent reincarnation of that story in 2006. He also played Lumpy in the same film. In DOTPOTA the story is about the conflict with the apes now living in Muir Woods (north of San Francisco) and a few human survivors living in an enclave in San Francisco. The apes fight with each other and with the humans. The humans also fight amongst themselves as well as the apes. Like the 2011 film, everything leads up to a big San Francisco battle for supremacy.
Along the way a bit of soap opera and intrigue take place. Much of it doesn’t do much other than inspire yawns in the audience. Plot techniques which we have seen before occur on a regular basis. There is a great dark and brooding score by Oscar winner Michael Giacchino. The storyline ends with lots of room for a part III.
For those who have never seen the original film from 1968 it is now available on BluRay for under $10. Lots of extras include commentary by the stars and Honorary Oscar winner for make up, John Chambers. The legendary atonal score by composer, Jerry Goldsmith, was also nominated for an Oscar and the BluRay contains rare commentary by Goldsmith. Also available are box sets of all of the films and TV series trying to cash in on the current box office release. Maybe, just maybe, “Apemania” is back.
Rated 3.0 out of 4.0 reasons this film is above average almost entirely due to Andy Serkis. Part man, part ape.
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Pierre Boulle (1912-1994) was a French writer known for two literary works made into successful films. Based on his own WWII experiences as an Engineer, he penned The Bridge over the River Kwai which was published in 1952 and was a big best seller. It was made into a film and debuted in 1957. It was a fictional account of his WWII experiences as a prisoner of war involved in bridge building for Japan. The film won 7 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actor for Alec Guiness’ great performance.
Other works were successful but it wasn’t till his book, La planet de singes in 1963, that he hit it big again. It was translated into English and published in 1964 as Monkey Planet. The title was changed to Planet of the Apes. The film, directed by Franklin Schaffner premiered to wide acclaim in 1968 and starred Charlton Heston. The rest is history. Four sequels from 1970 through 1973 followed. “Apemania” reached it’s zenith with toys and games, a Marvel comic book and animated TV series. A Tim Burton directed remake came out in 2001 then in 2011 the series rebooted with a sequel following and now playing.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is well made but a little too long for the storyline and action sequences. Andy Serkis, who is a brilliant actor, again plays the ape Caesar. He had a bigger role as the ape King Kong in the most recent reincarnation of that story in 2006. He also played Lumpy in the same film. In DOTPOTA the story is about the conflict with the apes now living in Muir Woods (north of San Francisco) and a few human survivors living in an enclave in San Francisco. The apes fight with each other and with the humans. The humans also fight amongst themselves as well as the apes. Like the 2011 film, everything leads up to a big San Francisco battle for supremacy.
Along the way a bit of soap opera and intrigue take place. Much of it doesn’t do much other than inspire yawns in the audience. Plot techniques which we have seen before occur on a regular basis. There is a great dark and brooding score by Oscar winner Michael Giacchino. The storyline ends with lots of room for a part III.
For those who have never seen the original film from 1968 it is now available on BluRay for under $10. Lots of extras include commentary by the stars and Honorary Oscar winner for make up, John Chambers. The legendary atonal score by composer, Jerry Goldsmith, was also nominated for an Oscar and the BluRay contains rare commentary by Goldsmith. Also available are box sets of all of the films and TV series trying to cash in on the current box office release. Maybe, just maybe, “Apemania” is back.
Rated 3.0 out of 4.0 reasons this film is above average almost entirely due to Andy Serkis. Part man, part ape.
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One evening after work, I talked my dad into taking me to see "Battle for the Planet of the Apes".
Like all but the first movie, it was garbage (the first movie was just nonsense). The most educational aspect of the film came to me from the audience and my father. This may be where I first realized the power of brainwashing and the malleability of the American mind.
In the story, Caesar has had his rebellion and by some insane miracle has managed to defeat all the humans except a relatively small, radiation-scarred enclave.
The "evil" humans plot to attack the "apes" and the "apes" defeat them. At the climax of the battle, when the "apes" win, the audience went nuts.
I won't share my father's disgusted comment, because I don't remember exactly what it was, except that it wasn't something he'd generally use in polite company.
Later, I learned what disturbed him. Here was an audience full of humans, rooting for the defeat of humans. They bought into the notion of humans as antagonists, of their own people as one dimensional bad guys so much, that they related to *unquestionably inferior* non-humans over their own kind.
Now, that last observation is mine, not his.
Yes, I said "unquestionably inferior". Note that I also put "apes" in quotes.
Part of the arguments I used to get into over evolution was because the people I argued with didn't really understand evolutionary theory. They kept trying to separate us from the animal kingdom. The fact of the matter is... we currently live on the planet of the apes, for Man is an ape, by definition. We are a type of ape.
You know what you get when you modify a chimpanzee enough to where he can perform physical functions and engage in abstract thought like a human? You get a human, NOT a chimpanzee. There are reasons why chimps eat bananas in the jungle and Mankind reaches for the stars, and they won't be "cured" by some ridiculous airborne serum.
The original movie was a polemic about thermonuclear war. The rest since then were simply anti-human screeds.
This current crop is no different. But, again, the significance of the movies is not in the ridiculous premise, but in its effect on audiences.
The evidence of the good that America represents, of the good that America has done has been successfully suppressed in our public school system in recent decades, and anti-American "criticisms" have been promoted. To the point where you now have a sizable portion of the population who sincerely believe America is a bad place, American culture is corrupt, and American people are inherently evil.
Guess where the mind-manipulators tested the feasibility of reversing cultural psyches in this manner? As my father's reaction demonstrated, such a movie couldn't be popular among the pre-WWII population. They had not yet been brainwashed out of their natural, instinctive "bigotries".
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes becomes a yawn in the shadow of "Avatar". And what is Avatar? Some say it was just a remake of "Pocahontas" (or as I prefer pronouncing it, "Poke a Honda").
I disagree. I think it's the bastard child of the Planet of the Apes franchise.You can see the same anti-human theme. The same willful ignoring of flaws in the premises put forward in both franchises in order to promote the message that western civilization is bad.
I won't watch the new Planet of the Apes franchise, and have only caught trailer clips and bits of the new Rise of the Planet of the Apes movie. I'm tempted by the amazing CGI work, but examining the technical aspects isn't worth the damage it would do to my blood pressure.
But, what little I have caught has the same anti-human themes as the original series.
I love Cinemasins and their movie critiques.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8eUT2tg...