I’m proud to say that
whether it’s super powered humans or super intelligent apes on the screen, by
daughter still harbors an immediate dislike for intolerant and small minded
characters.
Koba, the intolerant and
small minded ape, was way sneakier and more competent than the human jerks that
were his parallel in driving the conflict to inevitability. Just like real life, a few buttheads ruin it
for everyone.
While not a complete butthead,
as he does have the best interests of everyone in mind at first; Gary Oldman
falls into this category. He’s always
completely different in every role, yet is thoroughly commanding in whatever
role that is. Amazing.
The new series continues
to run on the idea that we’re rooting for the apes, and retains them as the
focus characters. The humans were
secondary - interlopers to the world of the story of the movie. Accordingly, my daughter was much less
tolerant of the humans’ actions than of the apes, even though the latter were
scary looking. (This explains why it takes so long to get her to watch these
movies. She enjoys them immensely, but then when asked if she wants to see the
next one, focuses on “scary monkey” memories.)
The woodland setting was
far cooler than a post nuclear desert. Having our stars primarily use sign
language maintained their natural, non-human look.
I guess it was a case of
“know your audience.” When we first turned on the subtitles for the hearing
impaired (because the air conditioner was loud) the text under the sign
language disappeared. It gave the
opening ape scenes a truly otherworldly quality before we figured out how to
turn them back on.
This silent method of speaking coupled with
accurate depictions of the agility and physical power of chimpanzees and
gorillas made it easy to see why the bedraggled human community was terrified
of them. (Again…scary monkeys.)
It’s nice to see that
they not only learned from the original films, but expanded concepts to
previously unseen levels of awesome.
Apes on horseback?
Awesome.
Apes on horseback with
MASSIVE FIREPOWER?
Extra Awesome!
Apes in a tank?
HOLY CRAP!
The social satire and
commentary is there, this time based on some relevant points about the dangers
of letting fear mongers who point at “the other” as the source of societies’
ills get everyone into a tizzy.
In tribute to the
classic series the beginnings of the caste system, used for much of the social
commentary in those movies, can be seen.
The gorillas, being the
only non-arboreal great apes, had a village on the ground that guarded the
entrance to “ape city.”
The orangutans, traditionally
clever but solitary, were shown as the teachers and advisors. Considering how well they’ve done everything
else in these two films of the rebooted franchise, I’m wondering if they’ll go
down the path of transitioning the orangs from the wise educator role, to the
religious leaders who “know what’s best for everyone” and control society from
behind the scenes role, personified by Doctor Zaius. Additionally, I wonder: with the ape centric focus on these films, if
a Zaius character is introduced will my daughter still think, “He’s a
poopyhead?”
I can’t heap enough
praise on the motion capture actors yet again. If you’re one of the few
remaining who needs to have an object (instead of downloading) when purchasing
a movie or album like me, check out the extra features. Yes, the CGI animation is amazing, but
watching the motion capture scenes of Andy Serkis and company, every iota of
ape behavior is visible in those grey suited, face dotted performers.
Because the apes are the
driving force and main characters of the film, the key surprise statement is
not when they scare the flaming bejeebers out of the humans by revealing they
are an organized, armed and articulate society.
But, DANG, that show of
force when Caesar and the ape cavalry enveloped “Human Town” to say “and don’t
come back!” was freakin’ outstanding wasn’t it?
The line that gets this honor does come from Caesar, but the surprise comes not from humans that hadn’t met the starring clan of the film. Instead the surprise comes from Caesar’s own “people.” They witness him change the key law of their society to inflict punishment on his former friend and ally Koba for destroying any chance of averting war with the humans. The concept has been done before, probably most famously by Eowyn in the Battle of Pelennor fields.
However, the shock of
this line extended to the audience - due to the normally peaceful and level
headed Caesar introducing his subjects to capital punishment, the concept of
“dehumanizing,” and the limit to his mercy.
His response to Koba quoting their highest law, “Ape not kill ape!” was
the -
Key
Surprise Statement:
You
Are
Not
Ape.
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