Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Sigh... remakes and reboots are tedious... That's why they rarely work. As much as I love Spider Man you cant watch the reboot without thinking about where you first watched Toby McGuire kissed Kirsten Dunst in the first movie. That's why when you have a piece of cinematic history that is Charlton Heston damning humanity to hell on a beach in front of the statue of liberty its very hard to rise to that same level. It's why no one remembers the nightmare that was Tim Burtons 2001 Planet of the Apes remake. After ten years though Rise proved that there was still a story to be told, a good one. Now in 2014, a great story is told.



It's been five years since Caesar famously led the free smart apes across the Golden Gate bridge to freedom in the redwoods. The deadly simian flu has wiped out most of humanity and the apes live in peace. One day a chance encounter with humans and a gun fired in fear shatters the peace and tranquility. Can ape and man finally put aside their differences and live in peace? As Caesar said in Rise: NOOOO!

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a movie that I've been looking forward to but not really paying any attention to. In the beginning of the year it was Captain America 2, Godzilla, and X-Men Days of Future Past and when I looked to fall it is Guardians of the Galaxy, Interstellar, and Mockingjay. An at the end I added, "oh yeah, and Planet of the Apes." Then I caught the buzz. Rewatched the trailers. And suddenly I started paying attention to July 12. I can now say that Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is the best movie of the year so far. It is the best Planet of the Apes movie bar none. It deserves an Oscar nod for best picture, everything technical, and had better earn Andy Serkis his LONG overdue Best Actor nod. I said back in May that Godzilla was the first Must See of the Summer. Now I'm saying Dawn is the TRUE MUST SEE.  I could go on and on about the drama characters, the fantastic opening and closing, or the two really great tracking shots that seriously left me speechless. I could go on about how seeing an ape riding a horse with a machine gun in each hand didn't make me laugh but elicited true fear. (That's not a sentence I ever thought I'd say) But I wont. Here's what I have to say about Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: It's not just a good action movie.It's not just a good syfy movie. It's a freaking GREAT movie by any standards. Long live the reign of the apes. A+