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| Mo-cap king Andy Serkis returns as Caesar for Dawn. Image from IndieWire. |
Today’s
CGI-filled blockbusters seem to be devoid of smarts and human emotion, so how
does Dawn of the Planet of the Apes fare?
Taking
place a decade after 2011’s Rise of the
Planet of the Apes, Dawn continues the story of Caesar, who now leads a
legion of evolved apes which encounter a group of humans that put both sides
into the brink of war.
Motion-capture
king Andy Serkis, one of the reasons why Rise
revitalized a near-dead franchise, gives a masterful performance as Caesar.
Now the film’s lead, he makes us look into Caesar’s courage, confusion and
insecurities through his every move, growl and smirk. Toby Kebbell as Koba, a
former test subject in Rise who
becomes the film’s villain, however, rivals Serkis. Even when their characters
clash, their displays of human emotion grab the screen.
