Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,
directed by Matt Reeves
(PG-13, 130 minutes)
The original Planet of the Apes, made in 1968, concerned a human astronaut (Charlton Heston) in the future who crash lands on a planet with his crew and discovers it to be run by intelligent apes, with the existing humans on the planet mute and savage.
The film was wildly popular, producing four sequels over five years, a TV show, and a comic book. After that the fad wore off and people moved on to other things (like The Exorcist in 1973). The series lay dormant for almost 30 years (except for a troubled Tim Burton remake) until 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes, written by husband and wife team Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, which was a surprise success. It's set in the present day at the very beginning of a viral outbreak that would eliminate most of the human race, and would become an eventual ape revolt.
The film introduces Caesar (Andy Serkis), a young, intelligent chimpanzee who starts as a beloved lab pet and ends up leading the apes out of the city and into the woods outside San Francisco. It's an eloquent case against man's inhumanity to his fellow creatures and his tendency to wreak havoc on a given ecosystem.
This sequel begins 10 years from where the last one left off. In the ensuing decade, a lab-created virus known as simian flu has wiped out nearly all of humanity, with only lone pockets of people surviving. The apes, led by Caesar, have thrived, building an entire community out in the woods, prospering by following Caesar's careful planning and strict edicts (such as "Ape not kill ape").
The ape village is near a dilapidated dam that the humans still living in San Francisco need to restart in order to supply electricity to their little enclave. A search party is sent out, including Malcolm (Jason Clarke), Dreyfus (Gary Oldman) and his son Alexander (Kodi Smit-McPhee), doctor Ellie (Keri Russell) and Carver (Kirk Acevedo), a hotheaded dam expert who blames the apes for the outbreak of the virus.
It's around this time that warmonger chimp Koba (Toby Kebbell) sets up an elaborate scheme to assassinate his ape chieftain and blame it on the humans, setting off a war and taking power in the process.
The story is decidedly Shakespearean, with time and attention paid to detailing the emotional lives of the apes and the humans. The result is an even-handed approach, revealing the complex nature of animal/human diplomacy and how things can go horribly wrong on either side.
For all the myriad ways this film could have gone off the rails, it pulls off the difficult task of having a non-animal hero serve as the heart of the drama.
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The Congress (unrated, 122 minutes) A promising, almost-successful satire in which an aging actress (Robin Wright) makes a deal with a studio head (Danny Huston) that will preserve her digital image for use in any future film the studio chooses. With Harvey Keitel, Sarah Shahi, Michael Stahl-David; directed by Ari Folman.
Trailer Park Boys: Don't Legalize It (unrated, 95 minutes) The third of the goofy Canadian Trailer Park Boys mockumentaries brings back Ricky, Julian and Bubbles and their pals at Sunnyvale Trailer Park to investigate what will happen to Ricky's profitable marijuana business if Ottawa legalizes weed. With Robb Wells, Mike Smith, John Paul Tremblay; directed by Mike Clattenburg and Steph Clattenburg.
MovieStyle on 12/05/2014