Ten years after the incident in San Francisco, humanity has nearly been obliterated, and the genetically evolved apes remain, led by Caesar. When his tribe clashes with a surviving group of humans, the two races are suddenly thrown into a conflict that will decide the fate of both human and ape.
What surprised me most about this movie was that about 20% of it was action, and the previews are very misleading (in a good way). The average viewer is coming into the theatre expecting to see monkeys riding horses and shooting guns, and they get just that, mixed with a whole lot of theme and emotion. The good thing is, you're not exactly cheering for the apes to wipe man from the face of the earth, and you're also not siding with your own kind. Instead, this movie makes you hate war and lets you see that there is no true bad guy and good guy. The humans had some bad guys and some good guys as did the apes. In fact, much of the theme came from the fact that the apes (since they had been genetically altered) were becoming more like humans in the way they walked and talked but especially in their actions.
Don't worry though. There is a villain on both sides, though one is misunderstood and the other is a villain for good reasons but a villain nonetheless. You'll get your fill of an epic good V.S. evil showdown on a high tower that begins to crumble and explode. Where else would a final battle take place?
This movie is obviously better than its predecessor, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, but I feel like the titles weren't really thought out. Come on, humanity--dawn comes before rise. Get it right. It happens every day.
And the fact that Gary Oldman was in this movie makes it ten times better.
The animation was beautiful, and the creators very cleverly marked each of the ape main characters so that they would be easily recognizable from the crowd. Andy Serkis was especially brilliant; just the difference he achieved in portraying King Kong and then Caesar while still being a flat-out monkey is outstanding.
I actually liked the writing a lot, but sometimes the story got a little too complicated. Many times, there was a lot going on because you're trying to keep up with two races as well as their histories and characters. Unfortunately, with that many characters and backstories, some fall through the cracks. We hear only once about the main human girl's daughter and see once about Gary Oldman's family before he goes off to kill an army of apes. It still showed everyone's reasons, but they weren't exactly as developed as they could have been. The point still got across though and while sweet Gary only cried for about five seconds of the movie, I wanted to cry with him (I might as well name this post "My Not-So-Secret Love for Gary Oldman"). Now, a way the writing did work was that it made the two races so lovable that you didn't want anyone to die. As soon as the fighting began, it just made me sick. They also, very smoothly, led to the war between humans and apes while still maintaining Caesar as a good guy who silently holds a special love for humans in his heart.
Also, the movie opens and closes on the same shot. I love when movies do that. Maybe a little too much. It's brilliant and also memorable.
Okay, so the plot is a conflict between apes and humans, and it sounds dumb--but it's filled with more lessons, emotions, and plot twists than at which you could shake a machine gun. Go see a movie before you judge it.
And if you do happen to see it...watch for the scenes with the character Koba. According to my brother Luke (see Luke: Part I, II, and III), many of his shots very closely resemble Scar from the Lion King. He would like someone to back him up.
I am not that person.
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