'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes': Better Late than Never

You know what's better than a monkey riding a horse with an assault rifle? A monkey riding a horse with two assault rifles while rushing through walls of fire. Sounds cool? Good, because Matt Reeves' 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' brings that and more on the big screen. Dang, this is gonna be hard without giving spoilers...

Source: Image by found on screencrush

'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' takes place about a decade after the events of 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' and now the ALZ-113 virus has spread all over the world. As a result, the human race has decreased significantly as the apes continued to grow and survive. The leader of the apes, Ceaser (played by Andy Serkis), now runs a colony of these more-human-than-ever apes and ponders where the humans could be since they haven't been seen in years. In comes the not-so merry band of humans, led by Malcom (played by Jason Clarke), exploring the forest around the ape colony in search of electricity to power their safe base. I won't say what happens next because I don't want to give too many spoilers but basically it serves as a catalyst to the amazing plot and the bridge the long lost connection between apes and humans after the virus outbreak. This is where this film shines.

Source: Image by found on The Guardian

First thing I noticed watching 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' was how much things had changed since the last movie. The haunting voices of news and radio reporters walks you through everything that happened since the last movie, leaving you in a pretty uncomfortable position as a human yourself, and that's okay. The colors drive this home even more, having the apes a vibrant black but having the humans beat-up and unsaturated. If you thought seeing Ceaser speak the first time in 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' gave you shivers then prepare to sit in awe as not only Ceaser, but some of the other apes speak/loudly shout different words of the english language to each other. Not only that, they can hold guns, ride horses and even negotiate peace agreements. Very few movies today tend to successfully give their audience a feel of how things change and progress from one movie to the next but 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' proves that all is not lost. It goes above and beyond to tell you that these apes aren't just ordinary apes anymore and they mean business. Ceaser's even got a wife and a son with him now. Now that's progress.

Source: Image found on whysoblu

I have to take a minute and just talk about how much I loved the storyline in this movie. It was everything a storyline should be in a fantastic movie. It was complex, always moving and most importantly, straight to the point. After almost blowing my brains out in 'Transformers: Age of Extinction' I was scared to see anything longer than an hour and a half for fear it would drag on for eternities. When I saw that 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' was over two hours long I was skeptical that I would stay for the entire thing but thankfully it wasn't a problem. Everything was moving and smooth and I couldn't have asked for anything better. Every time I thought the bar was raised, ten minutes later it got raised even higher. It's really hard to describe without providing much spoilers. Let's just say that there are things even better than a monkey riding a horse with two assault rifles while rushing through walls of fire. Much better.

Source: Image found on screencrush

This movie is about the apes. That's the focus of the whole 'Planet of the Apes' franchise. The humans are, for once, not the important species here. The majority of your "awwww" and "HOLY FLUBBERNUGGET" moments will be for the apes. The various stories of the apes are gripping. From Ceaser's son trying to gain the approval of his father to Koba (played by Toby Kebbel) trying to come to grips with the hatred he developed for humans from all of the lab testing. It's human-like. You expect to find these sorts of dynamics in a lot of worn out and recycled movie plots but for some reason it feels so much more compelling when applied to something non-human. You slowly come to care about the apes and the politics within their empire. Heck you even start to root for them.

Source: Image found on ap2hyc

All in all, this is one of the best movies of 2014. Hands down. I would even go as far as to say that this may be the best movie of the year (so far). Finally something good comes out that doesn't have Marvel's name on it. This summer hasn't been too promising with titles like 'Tranformer: Age of Extinction', 'A Million Ways to Die in the West' and The Amazing Blah 2 'The Amazing Spiderman 2'. 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' comes right on time. Some may say it's a bit late to the party but hey, better late than never I always say.