Slightly predictable, but beautiful visuals and good action make it an enjoyable watch, writes Leni Ma'ia'i.
Director: Matt Reeves
Cast: Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke
Rating (M)
3 stars out of 5
The Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes (Rialto) opens to an extreme close-up of Caesar (Andy Serkis), the leader of the apes, looking at us with piercing dark eyes as he leads his apes into battle.
Director Matt Reeves and the Weta Digital team set the tone early for some ridiculously good visuals; the rest, however, was more of the same.
The film is set 10 years on from The Rise of the Planet of the Apes. A synthetic virus has been released that has resulted in the apes becoming intelligent. They live in a utopian ape commune in a forest outside San Francisco where they have learnt to speak, use sign language, and ride horses.
Unfortunately, the same virus wiped out the majority of humanity. The survivors are based in San Francisco.
The apes and the humans are unaware of each other's existence, but when a chance encounter between the humans and a couple of apes goes south, the two species are forced to confront each other.
Malcolm (Jason Clarke) and his wife Ellie (Keri Russell) form a bond with Caesar and some of the other apes as they try to keep the peace between the species.
However, underlying tensions soon culminate in all-out war, which Reeves renders masterfully. Reeves' characterisation of the apes was fantastic, but he was far less convincing with the human actors and the plot is a little predictable. Nevertheless, seeing an angry ape riding a horse and shooting a machine gun is pretty cool.
Best thing: Serkis as Caesar absolutely kills it.
Worst thing: The distinct lack of surprises. Everything that happens you could see coming 10 minutes beforehand.
See it with: The Rise of the Planet of the Apes under your belt.
