Film review: Dawn of the Planet Of The Apes

Tim Burton’s abortive Planet Of The Apes is now a distant memory thanks to the 2011 revamp Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes and this superior sequel, which pushes the art of motion-capture performance to new limits.

Andy Serkis’ exemplary work as Caesar, the super-intelligent chimpanzee who leads the ape uprising, is the film’s emotional heartbeat.

His ability to convey the character’s rage, despair and passion through movement and gesture is breathtaking.

Toby Kebbell is also compelling as Caesar’s war-mongering rival, who believes the key to his species’ survival is the extermination of humans.

Mark Bomback, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver’s script elegantly draws parallels between the feuding primates, juxtaposing tender scenes of parenting with bruising skirmishes that create divisions on both sides.

Ten winters have passed since simian flu ravaged the globe. In the absence of law and order, basic resources such as water, food and electricity are seriously depleted.

One-time military man Dreyfus (Gary Oldman), who lost his entire family to the virus, leads survivors of the ALZ-113 virus in San Francisco.

He despatches a team led by Malcolm (Jason Clarke) to access the O’Shaughnessy Dam, which provides the city with electricity.

In the forest that envelops the dam, the scouting party encounters apes led by Caesar, including his ambitious second-in-command Koba (Kebbell), impetuous son Blue Eyes (Nick Thurston) and Bornean orangutan Maurice (Karin Konoval).

Malcolm’s trigger-happy compatriot Carver (Kirk Acevedo) shoots one of the apes and the humans are banished to their stronghold.

Once Dreyfus learns about the neighbouring ape community, he asks Malcolm and co to refrain from telling the other survivors. “They’re talking apes with big-ass spears!” shrieks Carver.

Malcolm realises that he must earn Caesar’s trust to gain access to the dam so he prepares to return to the forest with wife Ellie (Keri Russell) and teenage son Alexander (Kodi Smith-McPhee).

“If you’re not back in three days, we’re going to go out there and kill every last one of them,” warns Dreyfus.

This is a slick thrill ride with brains as well as brawn.

The grim mood, which permeates the first half, leads to all-guns-blazing war and Reeves orchestrates these brutal sequences with elan.

Digital effects are jaw-dropping, giving birth to a realistic army of blood-thirsty apes who cram every chaotic, blood-spattered frame.

The film’s strong anti-gun message comes through clearly, but the appetite for destruction overpowers diplomacy.

“I always think ape better than humans,” laments Caesar as his dream of lasting peace founders. “I see now how like them we are.”