And they kind of get better and better.
Yeah its kinda hard to argue with that.
The equally awkwardly titled
DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES last night and, yeah, it's another cracker. Tense and exciting from the start and barely let's up.
Sympathies still always with the apes, even as they attack the human compound you feel for them being misled rather than for the human defenders. Helm's Deep this is not.
I particularly like the way all of the characters act rationally given the information they have at any given time. Nobody does anything daft because the plot demands it.
Top notch performances all-round; again, Serkis and the other mo-cap players knock it out of the park. Great to see them in the main cast too not relegated to the special effects section of the credits.
In a film of flawless, utterly flawless special effects there are two bravura shots that stand out; a pov from the twirling turret of a careering armoured car that gives a 360 degree view of the battlefield and that final zoom in to extreme close up on Caesar. I wonder how much physical stuff they actually filmed for some bits.
Simple visual storytelling also abounds. Nobody says what happened to Will but there's a yellow plague cross painted on the house which also lets you know just how dark humanity's slide was. And the difference between how Caesar and Gary Oldman address their citizens is very telling.
My favourite things about it? The apes with their hunting paint on look scary as anything. The subversive commentary on America's obsession with guns. Things go pretty well until the presence of a gun mucks it up whether it's Carver in the initial meeting, his hiding if a shotgun or, most importantly, Koba getting his hands on an assault rifle.
Oh and the very true and sad "Human work. Human work. Human work" as Koba points to his ravaged body.
