SPOILERS

Yes it is true that some parts were very predictable. However:

1- Many aspects of the movie were not too predictable. For example, towards the 2/3 of the movie, I was starting to think Ceasar would die and his son would go kill Koba and be the hero of the next movie.

2- Even if it has a certain amount of predictability..... so what? Many great movies are predictable. Predictability doesn't always lower a movie's quality.

It's like Animal Farm meets Children of Men and the result is pretty awesome. Way better than the first which was a movie I didn't care much for. I like the dreary apocalyptic world they set up here and there are surprisingly a lot of Spielberg esque moments in the slow burn first half that work. The apes are still the highlight and the conflict between Ceaser/Koba is really interesting/compelling to watch at times.

The action when it's there is well done too and I loved that tracking shot with the tank approaching the gates. This is definitely not a action movie, but the set pieces are fun and I like the fact that they are handled in a more gritty/realistic way.

If their is any weakness it's definitely the human characters. I mean what the hell was even the point of having Gary Oldman in this if he doesn't have anything to do. He only has a few scenes here and there, but it honestly feels like a slightly extended cameo until the very end.

The rest of the cast Clarke/Russel and their kid do a good job acting wise, but the human characters are just dull.

Greatly enjoyed it, but I should've went in with normal expectations instead. I would say that Rise is still better.

I wonder if the next movie will have a scene at the end, or as a post-credits scene, set like 1000 years in the future, where the earth is completely ruled by apes and humans have degenarated.

This is the movie Avatar wanted to be. But it still has its flaws, I guess.

A-

Fantastic movie!


The best thing about it... no stupid, pointless comedy moments.


No "cute" references to previous Apes installments, no stale pop culture references like calling Koba "Scarface/Al Pacino" or other such nonsense. No Wink, wink, nudge, nudge crap.

The closest thing to brevity seen throughout the film is

It took an admittedly absurd concept, grounded it, and made it work by giving the story and characters the proper amount of seriousness they warranted, and was all the better for it.

One of the best post-Nolan Batman films to truly get it right!

IMO this is the best Apes movie out there and the best of the summer, so far. Great great movie, and really touching at times specially at the end.

A

I liked it, it's very enjoyable with great performances and a well designed plot, a bit predictable though.

B+

But fuck!!!!, how dare critics compare it with SWV?

Assuming, you're talking about Star Wars Ep. V, I do prefer Dawn.

I loved it from a filmmaking perspective, great storytelling/intensity/sense of wonder/etc. Great pure war film. However it's one of those films I'm sure will get worse after a few days or weeks after the theatre experience goes away and when I sit down to think about how the Caesar/Koba feud and resolution is derivative of others (Koba is basically Megatron) and some flaws with the human side of the story. As mentioned Gary Oldman's role feels like a "Sweet, we got Gary Oldman! Ok we'll fit him in here somewhere..."

I agree with your point in general, but Koba's dumb ape routine to trick the gunmen, is clearly the "moment of brevity" of the film

Apparently you must have missed the animal cruelty angle.

If it wasn't for your avatar, I would assume you sometimes have weird choices

Yeah, that's also a fact I hated, he was SUPER wasted

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

A very well-made film. A great Summer blockbuster. It has perfect story telling, immaculate visual effects, good acting, and nice cinematography. But the film is almost too perfect that it becomes a negative. It's too safely well-made that it is free of anything that makes it interesting. No quirks or excitement. It's not bland, and it kept me my interest piqued throughout, but it certainly drags in places, and these apes take ... so ... fucking ... long ... to ... say ... just ... a ... few ... words. If they sped up their dialogue, the film may have been 20 minutes shorter.

What I appreciated most about Dawn was that it presented the film from the apes' perspective, and therefore with our instinctual bias towards humans, the film is delivered in a sort of equally weighted fairness from the beginning, and because of that, you see the conflicts from a level-playing field. I was firmly with the apes all the way through, knowing that they did nothing wrong (apart from Koba, he was a maniac intent on violence). The action, when it happens, is very good and intense, and while Rise made us aware of the greatness of the ape impersonations by Serkis and his team, I would just like to mention again how great they are.

Jason Clarke and Gary Oldman were fine. Serkis was fantastic yet again. The film is rather dark and grim all the time, with a constant dingy colour tone throughout. The story is fine, but it just felt rather unoriginal to me. It basically copied the story of Julius Caesar in that the emperor is killed by his subordinates (ironically, the main character is also called Caesar), so I didn't appreciate that. But overall, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a very, very good Summer film, and probably just a little worse than Rise of the Planet of the Apes. But still very good.

B+

Very good movie

Awesome movie, better than the first and on par eith DOFP as the movies of the summer.

B+

Needs more Maurice.

I could watch a film where it was just these apes. I thought they were fascinating and very well portrayed. Truly well done.

A

I've seen it 3 times so far. It really is incredible. The best movie I've seen in many years. Definitely in my top 10 ever.

This was great and up until the last half hour or so I was totally expecting to give it an A. I wasn't a fan of Rise at all. This improves upon it on every level possible. It is incredibly thought provoking, haunting and entertaining. I thought once the apes took over it got a bit too action oriented and it took away from the overall meaning on the film. Obviously I knew there would be action, I just thought the amount was a bit overkill. The villain was actually scary too. Loved this.

A-

Yeah, Koba rules

Amazing visuals and the story is quite strong avoiding possible cliches along the way. The score was surprisingly bad however.

??

Right?! The main ape theme is quite catchy and primal.