Solid Snake

Yeah. He was very interesting. I didn't like those two humans. They were kind of generic in their attitude.

dhmac

Before seeing Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, I not only re-watched Rise of the Planet of the Apes, but also the 1970s era Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and its follow-up Battle for the Planet of the Apes over the past week.

And seeing them all close together, "Rise" was clearly inspired by "Conquest" and "Dawn" was clearly inspired by "Battle" (not remakes per se, but definitely "inspired by"). The 1st word Caesar says in "Rise" ("NO!") is a word that the humans use to condition the slave apes in "Conquest" (in "Battle", humans are even forbidden from saying the word "No" ever). And the ape society law that "Ape Must Never Kill Ape" is established in "Battle" and, just like the new movie, is broken for the 1st time as a major plot point.

Given that "Battle" was the last movie in the original POTA series, the next movie in 2016 will be the first one going completely into uncharted territory.

OldBoy

did anyone else see this in 3D?

i did and thought for the most part it sucked. i saw some depth and the fire embers were cool.

could've have been my theater, the print? because it was really bad.

The Guardians of the Galaxy trailer looked better than the movie. really disappointed since this was shot in 3D. i was going for Avatar like effects.

Brack

The 3D looked good to me. I saw it in Real D or whatever its proper name is. It was filmed with 3D cameras. The 3D was subtle, with I liked. Most 3D in movies has that horrible pop-up book look to them, and can be a real distraction.

Giantrobo

So...we know

1. the Retro Virus kills most humans and spreads easily.
2. The side effects of the RV on Apes can be passed down.

My question...are the Apes in San Francisco the only intelligent Apes on Earth at this point? Or is the RV spreading on Earth and making other Apes in other areas intelligent too?

Giantrobo

Koba was not wrong in what he was advocating. His problem was he became less about the good of Ape-kind and all about personal revenge.

Why So Blu?

I'm sure that's where the next film will venture into.

lopper

I saw this today and it was really, really good. In the top 3 of the year so far for me, easily.

And, no, Serkis doesn't deserve an Oscar, the digital effects artists do.

onebyone

Amazing movie, I loved every minute of it. The effects with the apes are something else.

Of all the reboots, I had the least hope for this series. So far, it has really proven me wrong.

Supermallet

I loved it as well. I thought it would have been more interesting if Koba had really represented an alternative and viable point of view (that apes will always be threatened by humans) and made him less of an obvious despot.

Despite that, it was incredibly well done. The human's work scene was especially excellent. I found it funny that Judy Greer played Caesar's wife (named Cornelia, although if she's mentioned by name before the credits then I missed it) despite having no lines and not really doing anything at all in the movie.

Brack

She gets more to do in Sprint commercials these days. Seems like a waste of talent.

Why So Blu?

I was surprised that a female played Maurice, because I don't think they specified that Maurice was female. Unless I missed something.

Dr. DVD

I think Maurice was male but was played by the person who could do the best mo-cap, which happened to be a woman.

Giantrobo

I hope so. I figure the advantage these Apes had was the fact that Caesar and Maurice both were taught some language and non-ape communication skills by Humans. Apes in the wild would most likely be behind these apes.

Solid Snake

At one point in the film I was worried for Maurice. I really like him. I'd like to see more of him.

I really want to see the apes go into a more educated culture. And I think we are getting into that with next one but how far into I don't know. With the human military coming. I'd also like to see how the other apes have fared in other regions.

Did the original film even talk about different Apes regions?

mhg83

My theory is that the call on the radio for help the ones on the other end are not human...

B.A.

I took my dad to see the Apes flick this afternoon not knowing he hadn't seen the previous flick. It was much better than he was expecting. Damn good flick. I really liked it.

Iron_Giant

I really loved 92.8% of the movie, the ending left me feeling let down.

The movie was not completed, there was no real "Dawning" of the planet of the apes. The planet is not theirs yet, more battles to be fought.
-So, I felt a little robed at the end.

Though I enjoyed the apes, acting, characters, compassion (from both sides), filming, sites in SF...
-Just wish the ending would have been different.

It would be a little cool if the voice on the radio was not human, but I do not see that happening. (If Caesar could not speak that well, how could other apes speak so clear)
-Unless the voice on the other end is human and the bomb SF and it becomes the forbidden city/land.
-Then the voice/people goes under ground for a future movie

bunkaroo

I don't recall seeing it mentioned, but I was surprised they didn't stay consistent with aspect ratio of the last movie.

dex14

This is how 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' was going to end (and where the sequel might start):

http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/07/15/da...ending-sequel/

dhmac

Yeah, I noticed that this was 1.85:1 in the theater and wondered why they went with that aspect ratio. Did shooting it with 3D cameras have anything to do with it?

hanshotfirst1138

I'd assume it has to do with Reeves TV roots, he was probably weaned on 1.33 and 1.78 once things went digital.

Seriously, Matt? You fucking have a guy wear a Polaroid T-shirt and shoot the movie digitally? What the fuck, man ?

I'll post my full review no one will read later, but thoroughly enjoyed this. Thought the first hour was the best, and the third act action-movie smashing got a bit generic, but overall, a worthy addition to the POTA legacy with a nice political edge which the series does well. Pierre Boulle didn't even get billed? Serkis got top billing? Fully deserved, WETA's work was nothing short of breathtaking, the movements and emotions were incredible. Those two impressive single takes were nice too. Don't know if it's the summer's best-I still think DOFP is hard to beat, and CAWS was pretty damn good, but it's up there. And all praise to Serkis. It's fully deserved.

Did Michael Seresin resign from the BSC?! His melding of the digital and the real was awesome too, must be a DP's nightmare. Full props to him too, whatever you think of the film, it's lit beautifully.

I think that the apes Caesar dosed with the drug from ROTPOTA are the only intelligent ones at this point, and their descendants. How exactly they could mad other smart apes, I can't say, but maybe they'll come up with some sort of lot contrivance to make it so for the third movie.

creekdipper

Add me & the wife to the naysayers who like Rise better (also agree that the titles should be swapped).

Liked Dawn, but glad we had the Fandango tickets. Kind of surprised at the high critical ratings.

LOVED:

The apes. Would have loved watching the entire movie with focus entirely on apes (with humans only seen as nameless antagonists). CGI & ape actors fabulous. If the makers had had courage to stick entirely with a tale from the ape point of view, this could have been a genre masterpiece.

DISLIKED INTENSELY (short of hating, but turned off by):

The humans. Generic, formula-ridden, predictable stereotypes. Either the resident messiah (Clarke), obligatory idiot (Achevedo), bland eye candy (Russell), etc., the humans had less personality/originality than some of the Jurassic homo sapiens. Hilarious that Clarke was only human with light-colored clothing when he came out to greet the apes when they first came en masse to the city...even dressed him in symbolic "white."

Predictable situations/outcomes. The aforementioned idiot who messes things up, Koba shooting Caesar & blaming it on humans, kid bonding with apes, Caesar repeatedly giving second chances to humans (and rescinding his ultimatums), apes digging out the humans, Russell saving ape mama, yada yada. Wanted to see some bold moves...not so far as having Keri Russell leave Clarke for the much more interesting Caesar (that would have shaken up the franchise), but something original.

Ape/human dialogue: "I really thought we had a chance." "So did I."


Not saying that it was a bad movie, but it could have been so much better. It's as though the studio heads said, "We're shelling out a lot of dough for a big summer movie...and that's what we better get. This ain't no mumblecore indie flick."

Just tired of seeing these big flicks dumbed down for the masses. Keeping the story entirely from the ape standpoint would have eliminated (or hidden) many of the script weaknesses. Every time the humans came onscreen, I lost interest and started making ape noises until my wife punched me.

Solid Snake

Really? Rise was a lot more dumbed down this this flick.

creekdipper

Hmmm...haven't seen Rise since it came out, so I might agree with you after re-watching. I just remember being impressed with Caesar & seeing his emergence.

Maybe my low expectations after the Burton remake made it seem better than it actually was.

Don't mean to say that I hated Dawn...just had a lot of my cliche buttons pushed, and that always disappoints.