Definitely one of the best movies of the year to date, and certainly the best "blockbuster" in a long time. In an age of reboots and remakes, it's nice to see a home run every once in a while. I liked the most recent reboot before this one (Rise) a lot and I thought this one was even better. Director Matt Reeves was obviously a big fan of the series and has spoken in detail about how he wanted to focus on the potential for great stories between the time of virus breaking out but before the time of the 1968 original.
Here he is going into detail about that:
Also, you can't talk about these two latest Apes films without bringing up the brilliance of Andy Serkis. He really doesn't get enough credit for his work. Despite the CGI and motion capture, I saw an interview with him talking about the most difficult part of playing the role of Caesar was resisting the urge to play an ape with exaggerated movements. He went on to talk about how - even with the motion capture - the bulk of the work was subtle expressions. He did a fantastic job in this one as the character had evolved quite a bit from the last installment to a very complex one wrestling with some big moral and ethical dilemmas in this movie.
Here's some great behind the scenes footage of what it looked like while they were shooting that really goes to show you how the actors had to approach things before the CGI was added:
In a time where Hollywood gets it wrong way more often than not, this film was pure movie magic at it's best. Great story that wrestled with some big themes, brilliant characters and great action. Truly something for everyone in there.
|