For Your Consideration: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Nope…unfortunately not a documentary feature about Jennifer Saunders’s comedy partner’s job in a new and rather emphatically named monkey zoo, but a sequel to 2011’s surprisingly critic and consumer pleasing franchise reboot, Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

I think we can all agree on one thing…Rise of the Planet of the Apes was far better than any of us expected. Right? Happy? Good. No need for any discord here. It’s a friendly, happy blog where we all concur that our fears of another off-target reboot (ala Tim Burton’s) were compounded by a plot that provoked thoughts almost as effectively as the 1968 original, alongside some smart visual effects and Andy Serkis’s patented man being an animal/fictional werido from Middle Earth shtick/brilliance.

And yet, when creative differences goaded ROTPOTA’s director Rupert Wyatt away from the sequel, the angst returned. Luckily, Cloverfield’s Matt Reeves stepped up to the big budget plate and refused to drop the mixed metaphored ball.

Set around fifteen years after its predecessor, Reeves sets up the plot clearly, succicntly and without the need for lengthy exposition of past events from a recurring character or, worse, explanatory text. To explain, using text, since the apes broke free of captivity roughly fifteen years ago, humankind has largely been wiped out by either simian flu or war. There remains a genetically immune community in San Francisco led by (thank heavens) Gary Oldman, but they lack the power to effectively revitalise the race. If only there was an old dam nearby that they could use to generate energy, I hear you cry. Well there is, ok. But it’s in the forest where the Caesar ruled apes live. And they find humans just a tad on the wouldn’t-trust-as-far-as they-can-throw side.

DOTPOTA drops the philosophical musings of the first film, instead focussing on more well-trodden elements about radically opposing societies coming together for the common good, against the adversity of utter mutual mistrust. This is solidly done, largely thanks to Andy Serkis’s refusal to be anything other than remarkable when trussed up in motion-capture suits, and to Jason Clarke who is becoming an ever-more reliable presence.

But it’s the cool factor that Matt Reeves was always likely to bring to this particular monkey rodeo (they have those right? And if not, why not?), and DOTPOTA takes this year’s rosette for coolest moment in a film. I see no spoiler potential in telling you that the garland winning moment is the sight of antagonist ape Koba on a horse, galloping towards the human’s barricade, with a machine gun in each hand firing arbitrarily into the air. It’s begging to be seen.

In fact, Koba is the film’s most interesting character. Tony Kebbell slips on the primate suit to play a perversely motivated patchwork of culture’s most heinous baddies. I counted Iago’s backstabbery, Frankenstein’s deformity complex, Captain Hook’s thirst for revenge, Brutus’s Caesar envy,  Saracen from Gladiators’s swinging menace, Clyde’s tomfoolery and June Sarpong’s iPhone case. Possibly.

Talking of history’s greatest monsters, it’s becoming more and more clear that the Academy is unlikely to recognise motion capture actors (‘motors’?) in its acting categories. This is probably the best Serkis has been since Gollum and, if he’s not nominated this time, he can probably safely put his ‘Nearest the Pin 2006 – Middle Earth Golf Society’ trophy back on the mantelpiece. While the visual effects team can probably once again have their monkey suits dry cleaned in time for February’s ceremony next year.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes; 2014; Dir: Matt Reeves; Stars: Andy Serkis; Jason Clarke; Toby Kebbell; 130 mins; 8/10; Probable nominations: Best Visual Effects; Possible nominations: Best Supporting Actor (Andy Serkis), Best Cinematography (Michael Seresin), Best Production Design