I thought I'd create a spoiler thread for this epic movie to talk about its epicness.
The cinematography is in this movie was really great imo. Some notable scenes:
- Starts/ends with zooming into Caesar's eyes
- Koba's slow-mo as he rode his horse through the fire while firing his gun
- Koba's slow-mo as he was on the rotating tank (thought that was really cool 360 view of the battlefield)
- All ape/human speaking scenes
I can see why people are comparing this to Dark Knight. Perhaps it's not at that level of greatness, but it's much closer than any other movie thus far.
One thing that irked me though was when Gary Oldman fired the C4's and somehow Malcolm survived by simply ducking. Pretty sure he'd be deaf for 7 days after that explosion...
This is the movie that deserves millions of dollars, not f***ing Transformers bullcrap.
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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.
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And as compelling of a character Caesar is, Koba was an equally interesting foil. I definitely felt for him. He had every reason to hate humans. Plus Koba did a good job of stealing some scenes. Loved how he used the whole stupid monkey act to get close to those guards and jack their guns. Plus he had the best scenes during the big battle. Just when you thought there was nothing more epic than an ape two-fisting semi-automatic weapons while riding a horse, they one upped it by putting an ape in a bloody tank!
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Great summer flick...just behind Edge of Tomorrow IMO. These movies usually suffer from cringe worthy dialogue and eye rolling plot points...but nothing bothered me...even the apes talking, which could have been executed extremely poorly. The director did a great job with building intensity and justifying conflict. He also developed all the characters quite well. Let's hope the 3rd movie can continue in the same fashion and not just be an action packed ape vs human war.
A good after credit scene would have been seeing Koba's hand burst out of the rubble. I don't think he is dead. He is too good of a villain. It might be interesting if he leads another ape army and there is one big triangle of violence between the humans and ape armies.
Seriously? Edge of Tomorrow? That movie was some good popcorn fun, but this was great on so many more levels. Cinematography, soundtrack, characters, acting, motion capture, dialogue, plot, conflict. They were all up there. Only thing was perhaps the pacing at times but wow, I was blown away. Greatest sequel perhaps since TDK. I can definitely see that. Wanted more oldman though, his character was really interesting in the few brief scenes he had. What a film..
The scene when Caesar goes to the human camp to warn them not to come back was great. Andy Serkis and the rest of the actors were brilliant portraying apes likeness.
IMO Gary Oldman was a waste in the movie in his role. They could have switched him with Jason Clarke (Malcolm) and atleast given him a more meaningful role in the movie.
Just got back, easily the best movie in the entire Apes franchise. The post-collapse San Francisco really reminded me of The Last of Us, hope we get to see more locations explored in the next movie
Just got back, easily the best movie in the entire Apes franchise. The post-collapse San Francisco really reminded me of The Last of Us, hope we get to see more locations explored in the next movie
Heh, I thought the exact same thing when I saw it (especially in regards to the dam). It's not better than the 1968 version though, which is seen as a classic for a reason. It doesn't live on purely camp value like the sequels usually do. The original Apes is probably a top ten sci-fi movie of all time, so it's no shame standing behind it.
I know Heston has his fair share of detractors, but after reading up on his involvement in the movie, he truly embodied Taylor, which is why he was perfect in that role. Also of course there's Rod Serling's script, someone who lived and breathed science fiction.
Last edited by trackercowe; 07-17-2014 at 11:42 PM.
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The way they had the sun rising on the Apes while Malcom (representing the humans) slipped away into the darkness was foreboding and symbolic of what's to come.
Also, ending the film with the tight close up on Caesar's eyes the way the film began was the icing on the cake.
Great movie, worthy of the name and establishes the reboot which is great for more Apes movies and sci-fi in general. Really looking forward to how things will unfold.
Only complaint is I thought the soundtrack was spotty, merely adequate.
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