It’s a testament to director Matt Reeves that while watching his beautifully realised sci-fi Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, one is reminded not of other CGI-heavy blockbusters, but of James Marsh’s incredible documentary Project Nim. As with that masterpiece of factual cinema Dawn’s rich and complex story uses communicative apes to reveal what humanity truly means. Hell, had Nim Chimpsky been given some horse riding lessons and a copy of Hamlet, he could have easily starred beside Andy Serkis, and saved Reeves some motion-capture effects.
Ten years after Simian Flu has wiped out most of humankind, Serkis and his beautifully rendered ape peers are thriving; living in the lush woods beyond San Francisco, communicating and learning speech and sign language. Each ape has a fully-rounded personality and backstory, resulting in emotive and complex relationships. Caeser’s sensitive son Blue Eyes (Nick Thurston) is eager to rebel; friend and advisor Koba (Toby Kebbell, terrifying) still seethes at memories of his torture at the hands of human scientists.
As human survivors Jason Clarke and Keri Russell venture into the apes’ domain to repair a hydroelectric dam, animals and humans are forced into a wary, distrustful partnership, which soon escalates into horrifying violence as miscommunication occurs, past betrayals threaten the peace, and protective instincts boil over.
The screenplay’s societal allegories feel organic and intelligent: there are no easy heroes or antagonists. As brilliantly rendered, slightly OTT battles finally break out, they’re elevated by the fear of what each side is capable of, and of how much is at stake. Smart, thought-provoking and thrilling.