Review: "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes"

I really liked Rupert Wyatt's 2011 re-boot Rise of the Planet of the Apes and was very much looking forward to its sequel Dawn of te Planet of the Apes. 

It's 10 years after the events of Rise and the so-called Simian Flu (a result of the virus used to introduce the drug that made the apes smart) has wiped out most of the human population.  The apes, living in a wooden village in the Redwoods, haven't seen one in the last two years and their leader, Caesar (Andy Serkis) assumes they are all dead. After his son, Blue Eyes (adorable Nick Thurston) is attacked by a bear while the tribe is hunting deer, Caesar warns him to think before acting. Soon, Blue Eyes and his young friend Ash come upon Carver (Kirk Acevedo of "Fringe") who shoots Ash and brings the entire village down on them. It turns out that Carver is part of a team sent to restart a hydroelectric dam in the mountains to restore power to San Francisco, which only has a few weeks of fuel left before the few residents are plunged back into post-apocalyptic chaos. Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty; The Great Gatsby) is Malcolm, who decides to appeal to the apes' intelligence and ask for permission to repair the generator. Along with his wife Ellie (Keri Russell) and son Alexander (Let Me In's Kodi Smit-McPhee) and several others, they make their way and plead their case to Caesar, who agrees to let them try, provided they give up their weapons. Caesar's right-hand Koba (Toby Kebbell) and father to Ash, doesn't trust the humans and after finding Carver hid a gun among his things, heads into San Fran with a team, where they discover the humans' huge weapons cache. Koba advocates attack, though Caesar doesn't want a war, just to be left alone. Gary Oldman is along as the human group's leader who turns out to be a bit over-zealous.

Matt Reeves (Let Me In) directs the effects-laden movie well, enough I suppose. And the cast is outstanding, particularly Sirkus and the rest of the 'apes' who give astonishing motion-capture performances (Sirkus seems to be a pioneer in the field, despite earlier attempts from actors like Tom Hanks and Jim Carrey in films that fail to make their human characters anything but dead-eyed and creepy). The real stars of the film are the effects and the cinematography. We opted for the 2D version and it was still spectacular to look at. Shot on location in the Redwood Forest, there is never any doubt that the apes swinging through the trees are actually doing just that (imagine the opposite of the terrible monkey sequence in Indian Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). 

Sadly, what Dawn... has in effects and performances, it sorely lacks in script. Borrowing from any number of better films including The Lion King (right down to the leader's nemesis having a prominent scar across the left side of his face), it seems cobbled together rather hastily and actually (to me, anyway) dragged at times (though Q didn't think so). Dale and I were mostly entertained while K (as usual) had issues with the noise levels and the themes of Man's (and Ape's) Inhumanity. Unfortunately, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was not THE summer movie I hoped it would be, despite its rather amazing FX work. *** (Three Out of Four Stars). Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is rated PG13 for "intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and brief strong language."

Oh, well. There's still plenty I want to see this summer, including director Luc Besson's (The Professional; The Fifth Element) take on the Superhero movie, Lucy, which despite having a flawed concept, looks awfully fun!

More, anon.
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"R'ha"

R'ha, A Short Film by Kaleb Lechowski

Like any art lover, I'm always on the lookout for new and interesting artists and their works and I like to share them with you (assuming you actually read my nonsense).

Anyway, I was perusing the often amusing Neatorama and came across this fascinating Sci-Fi CG short film R'ha from German film student Kaleb Lechowski. There is, according to Neatorama, much buzz about turning this short into a feature, though we know buzz doesn't always mean very much. Personally, I really would love to see R'ha expanded to feature length. Lechowsky certainly has some interesting ideas and creates rather stunning futuristic city-scapes. And I love that there are no human characters, a true rarity in the genre (at least on film and TV).  

See for yourself. I recommend watching full screen, especially if you have an HD monitor. 

R´ha [short movie] from Kaleb Lechowski on Vimeo.

I've posted before about shorts with potential to become features, which never seem to pan out. R'ha is different, if only because of it's lack of humans. The four-armed organic protagonist reminded me of the stop-motion demon in Stephen Dorf's 1987 film debut, The Gate and the hydra-like A.I. character was nothing we haven't seen before. Machines rising against their organic creators is hardly a new Sci-Fi theme nor are bands of determined rebels fighting for their (usually) humanity. And while the plot and dialog are hardly groundbreaking, Lechowski's visual (especially those astounding alien skylines) acumen cannot be denied. I honestly want to see what happened before this scene and what happens after. And I have to wonder, can machines lose their "minds?"

What do you think? Is R'ha something you'd want to spend 90 - 140 minutes watching? I'm pretty sure I would.

More, anon.
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"Ruin" (and a Last Thought on "The Walking Dead")

Before I get to the clip I want to talk about tonight, I have to share some final thoughts about the Season 2 finale of "The Walking Dead," now that I finally got to see the entire episode.

Holy crap! What an excellent episode. Even though he managed to save their son, Lori is furious at Rick over his admission to killing Shane. And while Daryl remains loyal, the others express their anger over Rick's failure to tell them that they were all already infected with whatever it is that reanimates the dead (the secret - as I eventually suspected, after Randall rose without being bitten - that Jenner whispered to him at the end of Season 1). And once Andrea was rescued by a mysteriously hooded figure leading two armless and jawless Walkers on chains, I knew we'd been introduced to the TV version of comic-fan favorite, Michonne. The sword-wielding badass will be played next season by "Treme" alum Danai Gurira. In the comics, Michonne comes between Carol and Tyrese (a character not in the series). I'll be interested to see if she comes between Carol and Daryl (a character not in the comics). Meanwhile, low on gas, Rick insists that the group set camp for the night and asserts himself once and for all as their leader. "This is no longer a democracy!" The episode ended with the camera pulling up and away from the group to reveal the prison which figures so prominently in the comic. I'm already excited to see what's in store for Season 3.

Now, on to what I really wanted to talk about tonight - Ruin.

I came across the short film (really a demo for a feature-length movie) on Io9 (they come from the future)  yesterday and was immediately drawn in by the amazing CG animation, the exciting action and the possible remaining story. It features some of the best CG animation I have ever seen and an exciting chase sequence, while referencing some classic Sci-Fi tropes. If you can, watch the embedded clip in Full Screen:

Wow! I hope they get the money they need to expand this into a feature. I'd see it in a heartbeat.

More, anon.
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The Worst Special FX You'll See This Week

No, I'm not talking about Sharktopus (if you've been reading me for a while, you know I have my own special ax to grind with that particular piece of crap), though those effects are exceptionally bad when you consider they're coming out of a "professional" effects house.

The video below has been making the rounds. I first saw it on Neatorama who linked to it via Gizmodo. I have no idea who Martin Gamal is or where he's from. On his YouTube page, he says this is his first effort at creating an FX demo reel and it shows. Personally, I never would have shared my first effort. The poor guy is certainly being picked on a lot. And I guess he put his heart into it. Still... Gamal does everything he can to fail here, including using footage of himself in what appears to be a... shall we say 'aroused?' state. And to be honest, I wouldn't mind the bad execution from a first-timer. What rankles me most is the ridiculousness of some of it. And yes, we're talking Sharktopus ridiculous.

Mind you, I in no way would attempt to do something like this, no matter how fascinated I have been all my life with movie special effects, so I have to give the young man credit for having the balls to even want to do something like this. But to put it on public display as a demo reel? He was just asking for it. I do wish him well and hope he gets better at it. And if he doesn't, I hope he has the sense to recognize it and stop. In any event, here are the most painful 12 minutes of CGI ever:

More, anon.
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