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selenakWhich is in the same continuity as "Rise.." "Dawn..." and "War..." respectively, set ca. 300 years after the Caesar trilogy, which I think was a very wise decision. I'm always wary when a story that feels complete gets an addendum because it was a success, which is why, for example, I never watched any of the "Pirates of the Carribean" movies beyond the third one - for me, the trilogy was mainly Elizabeth's story, and it was complete. However, something set within the same universe but telling a different story with different characters can be interesting, and I'm happy to report this is the case here.
What remains the same from the earlier movies is that this is very much the Apes' story. As with the others, there are also human characters in supporting roles, but the narrative focus is on the Ape characters. Now I'm not a viewer who is good at judging GCI - I'm more the viewer who when everyone else goes "OMG the special effects look so dated!" - about Babylon 5 says "huh? They still look fine to me!" - , but for what it's worth, I thought this franchise continues to amazingly pull off the kind of acting Andy Serkis if not pioneered then made justly famous with Gollum, i.e. the Apes are computere creations but combined with great performances, not just voice but eyes and body language transferred from the human actor to the computer animation. It makes you care about those characters. And of all the Ape movies so far, this is the one where we see the most of how the world at the point the movie is set. There are some stunningly beautiful shots of the wilderness having reclaimed human cities, and the movie sold me on the 300 years gap not least because it took the trouble of developing different types of Ape cultures instead of just going for the 1960s satire angle where the Apes simply reflect the earlier humans. And it offers both shades of grey and "villain has a point" types of situations along with a very sympathetic new main character, Noah, who isn't a Caesar imitation but has his own story and pesonality.
Not surprisingly for this franchise, the trailer is somewhat misleading. Proximus, the villain, isn't nearly as prominent in the movie as he is in the marketing (it's over an hour before he shows up), and Nova/Mae, the most important human character, isn't the damsel in distress. The movie takes its time, too, to establish the different world we're now in; we spend considerable parts of the narrative with the Eagle Clan Noah belongs to before Proximus' henchapes show up to terrorize and abduct them, and because the film has given its audience the chance to get to know these people and Noah's relationship with his friends and parents, I cared what happened to them.
Sidenote on the parents: for once in a coming of age story, the mother isn't dead and/or doesn't die, it's the father who bites the dust, and we do get to know Noah' s mother as a person. If I have one critique re: these movies so far, it's that the female apes don't get nearly the same type of narrative attention the males do - I think if Cornelia, Caesar's mate, had two lines or so, it's probably more than any other female ape who had none -, so I appreciated the fact we now have both the mother and the female friend, Soona, with lines and personalities. Though with the notable exception of Mae (more in a moment), the most fleshed out characters overall are still male. (I.e. Noah himself, Raka, following in the footsteps of Maurice in the wise Orang Utan department, and Proximus.)
Mae is notable, though. And something new. So far, we had well meaning humans who still screw up along with the human villains (Rise), well meaning humans who try their best along with jerks (Dawn) and Apocolypse Now style human villains and innocent kids (War). In this movie, humans show up in three variations - the feral silent ones who have regressed to a stone age existence (as in the very first 1960s movie), the reveal at the end, and Mae, who frst seems to be one of the feral ones with more intelligence, and I was all set to complain that I still didn't see someone growing up in a Stone Age type of tribe doing what Mae does and acts as she does when lo, we found out Mae actually has the background to explain this, i.e. she didn't grow up in a feral tribe. At all. She's also not the damsel, she's the trickster with uncertain loyalties (from the hero's pov), with an expertise in lying and deception (for understandable survival reasons, but it's still very much a trait) and a ruthless streak a mile long. Freya Allan was really good in conveying the different layers of Mae, and the relationship that develops between her and Noah was absolutely fascinating. It's a take on the "temporary allies with the growing awareness they are in key ideological conflict with each other" trope that if done well I fnd really captivating.
All in all: a worthy continuation which does its own thing and manages to combine the fantasy adventure/post apocalyptic set up with a moving story it tells with panache. I hope this will make it to another trilogy.
What remains the same from the earlier movies is that this is very much the Apes' story. As with the others, there are also human characters in supporting roles, but the narrative focus is on the Ape characters. Now I'm not a viewer who is good at judging GCI - I'm more the viewer who when everyone else goes "OMG the special effects look so dated!" - about Babylon 5 says "huh? They still look fine to me!" - , but for what it's worth, I thought this franchise continues to amazingly pull off the kind of acting Andy Serkis if not pioneered then made justly famous with Gollum, i.e. the Apes are computere creations but combined with great performances, not just voice but eyes and body language transferred from the human actor to the computer animation. It makes you care about those characters. And of all the Ape movies so far, this is the one where we see the most of how the world at the point the movie is set. There are some stunningly beautiful shots of the wilderness having reclaimed human cities, and the movie sold me on the 300 years gap not least because it took the trouble of developing different types of Ape cultures instead of just going for the 1960s satire angle where the Apes simply reflect the earlier humans. And it offers both shades of grey and "villain has a point" types of situations along with a very sympathetic new main character, Noah, who isn't a Caesar imitation but has his own story and pesonality.
Not surprisingly for this franchise, the trailer is somewhat misleading. Proximus, the villain, isn't nearly as prominent in the movie as he is in the marketing (it's over an hour before he shows up), and Nova/Mae, the most important human character, isn't the damsel in distress. The movie takes its time, too, to establish the different world we're now in; we spend considerable parts of the narrative with the Eagle Clan Noah belongs to before Proximus' henchapes show up to terrorize and abduct them, and because the film has given its audience the chance to get to know these people and Noah's relationship with his friends and parents, I cared what happened to them.
Sidenote on the parents: for once in a coming of age story, the mother isn't dead and/or doesn't die, it's the father who bites the dust, and we do get to know Noah' s mother as a person. If I have one critique re: these movies so far, it's that the female apes don't get nearly the same type of narrative attention the males do - I think if Cornelia, Caesar's mate, had two lines or so, it's probably more than any other female ape who had none -, so I appreciated the fact we now have both the mother and the female friend, Soona, with lines and personalities. Though with the notable exception of Mae (more in a moment), the most fleshed out characters overall are still male. (I.e. Noah himself, Raka, following in the footsteps of Maurice in the wise Orang Utan department, and Proximus.)
Mae is notable, though. And something new. So far, we had well meaning humans who still screw up along with the human villains (Rise), well meaning humans who try their best along with jerks (Dawn) and Apocolypse Now style human villains and innocent kids (War). In this movie, humans show up in three variations - the feral silent ones who have regressed to a stone age existence (as in the very first 1960s movie), the reveal at the end, and Mae, who frst seems to be one of the feral ones with more intelligence, and I was all set to complain that I still didn't see someone growing up in a Stone Age type of tribe doing what Mae does and acts as she does when lo, we found out Mae actually has the background to explain this, i.e. she didn't grow up in a feral tribe. At all. She's also not the damsel, she's the trickster with uncertain loyalties (from the hero's pov), with an expertise in lying and deception (for understandable survival reasons, but it's still very much a trait) and a ruthless streak a mile long. Freya Allan was really good in conveying the different layers of Mae, and the relationship that develops between her and Noah was absolutely fascinating. It's a take on the "temporary allies with the growing awareness they are in key ideological conflict with each other" trope that if done well I fnd really captivating.
All in all: a worthy continuation which does its own thing and manages to combine the fantasy adventure/post apocalyptic set up with a moving story it tells with panache. I hope this will make it to another trilogy.
no subject
Date: 2024-08-13 05:40 pm (UTC)That would have been an interesting twist -- but it worked well as it was. I'm guessing that they wouldn't have cast Dichen Lachman in such a tiny part at the end unless they were planning/hoping to make another where she'd have a bigger role. She's not a huge star, but she's been in a fair number of things.
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Date: 2024-08-14 06:36 am (UTC)BTW, re, Mae - I thought she had to be Charlton Heston as well for her behaviour and clothing to make sense, especially when we got the scene in the Griffith Observatory, but then her knowing her way around the bunker/vessel got me away from this - there was no reason why an astronaut would do that.
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Date: 2024-08-16 09:06 pm (UTC)