Great movie, and a third film is assured with the success of Dawn. Besides, we still haven’t gotten to New York yet to see how the you know what ends up you know where.
I don’t think I properly clued into this during my first watching, so I can reflect a bit more positively on the narrative now that you’ve made a solid claim about how the perspective changed from beginning to end. Thanks for that. I suppose it could also be a story of first contacts gone wrong for reasons of those false beliefs of Caesar you mention, so it’s still a chapter about his leadership. It just wasn’t quite as adventurous as I had hoped.
Now I’m wondering if Movie #3 will be a war movie. Saving Private Ryan… with human Nazis? :D That would kind of suck once you get past the novelty, but I’m sure they have better writers than that. I don’t think things can end in reconciliation, so I wonder if they will go full-bore like the original series and tell the tale of enslaving humans and make the story 100% ape. Or maybe #3 will be closer to a remake of the original and introduce a human protagonist.
Hell if I know. Most of the earlier Planet of the Apes sequels were crap, weren’t they? Maybe it is a curse of the setting, and a blessing that this one turned out good if not great. I hope there’s no such curse, because I loved this film, just not like the last one.
I think one of the hallmarks of good science fiction is when it forces us to take a hard look at ourselves through the eyes of an outsider we can sympathize with.
Oh God, that would be an insta-kill for me. There’s nothing lazier than creating a Fascist antagonist in uniforms ripped straight from Gestapo Weekly for your Sci Fi film. It’s just way too easy.
I would like to see the third film focus not only on the war, but also on Caesar’s development as a leader post Koba rebellion. Prisons to us are are a form of punishment. But a prison to an ape would simply be a cage. A symbol of confinement for no just reason. If Caesar now has to deal with criminals and traitors amongst his people, will he bring them back?
Also, robot monkeys. That’s the only way they’re topping dual gun wielding Koba on horseback. :)
Saw it on Sunday. Loved the effects, which I agree felt really natural and were superbly done. Loved Serkis’ Caesar; that man can act, CGI accouterments or not. Felt the apes were far more developed than the humans, which largely were disposable as far as I was concerned. Kerri Russel was hardly used at all, and Oldman didn’t really break a sweat. Plot was meh, but it’s a Planet of the Apes movie, we know what happens basically. I enjoyed it, but felt the first part was pretty slow, almost boring, and the last while exciting was fairly derivative and unoriginal. I did feel an emotional connection with Caesar, though the bits with his wife and infant son were a bit ham-handed I thought.
Was it worth $11 per ticket at the T-Rex? Eh, probably, just for the spectacle as noted by many others.
A weird observation: Did anyone else think Blue-Eyes wasn’t quite as impressive looking as Caesar, Koba, and the others? At one point I caught myself thinking “it must be hard to digitally add those injuries to the ape” before remembering the whole creature was digital, so I guess that’s sort of to their credit that I forgot he wasn’t a real ape. But those cuts never looked quite right. In other scenes, his face didn’t seem as expressive or emotive as Caesar. So I don’t know if that’s down to some weird effects decision, or if that’s directly to Serkis’s credit that Caesar looked so much better.
In any case, it was minor nitpick, minor enough that’s why I’m asking if anyone else even noticed it, or if it was just my imagination.
I don’t recall ever thinking to myself that his portrayal was off. But his wounds did look quite fresh long after I would think they’d scab over.
It wasn’t your imagination by any means. I honestly did have difficulty identifying Caesar and Blue-Eyes at times.
Worth seeing, but wasn’t overly impressed or that emotionally moved by the movie. Visually stunning but quite predictable.
I’d give this a good, not great. Thought Edge of Tomorrow was better myself.
I’m in this camp myself. It wasn’t bad, but was exactly what I was expecting story-wise. Hold that, I did expect more straight up mustache twirling on both sides, and the film did make it a point to show that even Koba had his reasons (though he did switch from obedient to rebel in the course of a day or two).
And the fact all this happened inside of three days (at least from the humans going to the apes to the battle) felt off. The timing of everything was just so rushed. It’s not something I usually notice or care about, but if you make multiple references to a short time frame then have all sorts of stuff happen that just isn’t remotely possible inside the window you gave me, I’m not going to buy it.
I found the CGI mediocre at best. And quite literally laughable at worst. Maurice was great, but every other ape-toon was various levels of blah. Blue-Eyes shined unlike most other apes for whatever reason. Almost like he didn’t get a final go-over from the animators. The shapes of the chimps bothered me. I’m guessing they’re supposed to look a little human-ish as part of their transformation into something we would see in the original films, but whenever Caesar stood up he just looked wrong. And the attack was goofy too for the most part. The apes’ initial charge, followed by hesitation, and then Koba’s rallying the troops was kind of awesome (and the wider views helped with the cgi where the close-ups really hurt). But then he goes all John Woo with the guns and gets the ‘hero’s exemption’ from a ridiculous amount of heavy fire. I almost LOL’d once or twice. Which isn’t at all like me and even bad films.
Still, the biggest thing I was worried about was cardboard villains, and they avoided that to various degrees. But the cardboard apes took me out of the illusion a few too many times.
I’m flinging 3 of 5 poos.
I suspect the Gary Oldman monologues has something to do with it. He was even wearing his Commissioner Gordon glasses.
I can’t even begin to understand how someone would think that. :0
Ok, so not sharknado bad. But for a major film that hinged on cgi it had some serious flaws. Blue Eyes sheen being one of the worst offenders. And the movement frequently seemed off. Close ups looked like good animated chimps, but still next to the human next to them they didn’t look real enough at all to suspend my disbelief. Maurice was the one exception as he looked great. But even he had times where movement felt off. Overall I think it was the way the lighting felt unnatural on the cgi and not consistent from one monkey to the next in the same scene. Not to mention the shapes seemed wrong.
I still enjoyed it and while I appreciate some of the choices made, overall it left no real lasting impression.
Maurice was a dude?
-TomOne very unpleasant scene that I’m guessing was a homage to Basic Instinct established that fact very early on in the movie. :(
Just out of curiosity, did you see it in 3D?
I did see it in 3D. And thinking about it, I’m pretty sure that really hurt the image quality for me. The 3D was very ‘Master View’ for me. Very flat. I think I noted that in my first reply that was then eaten by the internet and forgot to mention it the second time.
I’ve grown to dislike 3D for that and a few other reasons. I saw this without it and I can only imagine how flaws would’ve been enhanced by the effect. Especially if the 3D was added in post production (as I think many are), although I don’t know if that’s the case with DotPoA.\
Although now that I think about it, there were a few that I thought the 3D worked (Pacific Rim being one of them). But I can count on one hand the number of times that comes to mind.
I did not see it in 3D, but I enjoyed it. I liked the way it looked and the way it flowed. I was actually a little surprised it was so slow, but not bothered by it. At least this time I can remember the names of a couple of humans even.
It didn’t dawn on me until you said it, but that’s exactly how 3D works for me - MasterView. Great analogy.
I like that the new Planet of the Apes movies have tried to capture similar feelings from the original series. The originals were some of my favorite movies of all time (except maybe the second one, with the psychic bomb worshipers. That one was pretty weak.)
Just came back from 2D.
Really liked it. Last of Us-like setting, which was a huge pleasant surprise for me (I did not see any trailers or anything), perfect CGI, good enough script. Matt Reeves is a great director, liked all his films so far.