In our mind, Planet of the Apes is one of the best franchise turnarounds of the century. The limp ’60s/’70s series crashed decades ago and the Tim Burton remake didn’t perform the miracle of a resurrection but the 2011 and its 2014 follow up have both been critically acclaimed and garnered over $1 billion between them. The title of the third film has now been unveiled. Before with had Planet! Beneath! Escape! Conquest! Battle! Rise! Dawn!. And now…
War of the Planet of the Apes
This sequel will see the apes pushing towards all out dominance on Earth. We still unsure which of the earlier films brilliant supporting cast – including Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Jason Clarke (Lawless), Keri Russell (August Rush), Kodi Smit McPhee (The Road), Toby Kebbell (Dead Man’s Shoes), James Franco (127 Hours), Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire), David Oyelowo (Selma) and Brian Cox (The Bourne Supremacy) – but we can definitely expect Andy Serkis’ (The Lord of the Rings) ape revolutionary Caesar to be at the centre of the action as well as director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In).
The Hunger Games director Gary Ross helms the new Civil War thriller The Free State of Jones which just revealed its first image and a lengthy description. “Set during the Civil War, The Free State of Jones tells the story of defiant Southern farmer Newt Knight, and his extraordinary armed rebellion against the Confederacy. Banding together with other small farmers, and with the assistance of local slaves, Knight launched an uprising that led Jones County, Mississippi to secede from the Confederacy, creating a Free State of Jones. His marriage to a former slave, Rachel, and his subsequent establishment of a mixed race community was unique in the post-war South. Knight continued his struggle into Reconstruction, which distinguished him as a compelling, if controversial, figure of defiance long beyond the War.”
The film will star Oscar winner Matthew MacConaughey (Interstellar, The Wolf of Wall Street, Dallas Buyers Club, Mud, True Detective), Golden Globe winner Keri Russell (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Felicity, The Americans), Mahershala Ali (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, House of Cards) and BAFTA Rising Star nominee Gugu Mbatha Raw (Belle). Sadly the March release date may rule it our of awards contention.
While they don’t tell the whole story, trailers can set the pace of the level of anticipation for a blockbuster release. Terminator: Genisys and Ant-Man, among others, lost interest through their teasers while Jurassic World, Tomorrowland, Avengers 2 and Star Wars 7 thrived off of the hype. Disaster epic San Andreas had a surprisingly engaging debut via this format and the new poster is boosting our interest. The cast will include Dwayne Johnson (Fast Five), Alexandra Daddario (True Detective), Ioan Gruffudd (Titanic, Forever) and Paul Giamatti (Sideways, Saving Mr Banks, 12 Years a Slave).
The last of our trio of new images is the first on set pic from sports biopic Eddie the Eagle, which tells the tale of Britain’s beloved (if never successful) ski long jumper Eddie Edwards. Taron Egerton (Kingsman: The Secret Service, Testament of Youth) and Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables, The Prestige, Prisoners, The Wolverine) star in Dexter Fletcher’s directorial follow up to the smash hits Wild Bill and Sunshine on Leith.
Starring: Andy Serkis, Toby Kebbell, Jason Clarke, Keri Russell, Gary Oldman, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Karin Konoval, Nick Thurston, Judy Greer
It’s been almost fifty years since the first release of Planet of the Apes and, mainly due to its horrifying twist, has remained an iconic classic to this day but, while they may have the rare supporter, the quartet of ensuing sequels are no where near as rememberable while enough has been said on the disastrous Burton remake. In 2011, the franchise got a second chance with the unexpected delight of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The next chapter of Caesar’s story follows the ape into apocalyptic territory in hopes of becoming the sequel we’ve dreamed of.
Ten years after the global pandemic of Simian Flu, a small community of surviving humans shelter in the remains of San Francisco. Their leader, Dreyfus (Oldman), is quickly losing control of his power-deprived people and so dispatches a group lead by family man Malcolm (Clarke) to recover a nearby electric dam. However the dam is on the territory of the protective super-smart ape Caesar (Serkis) who guides a developing civilisation of his kind. When a chance at a coalition arises, conspiring members of both sides threaten to ruin the promise of cohabitation.
Inevitably the key talking point is Weta’s work on the special effects and they are stunning. It may not have the scope of Avatar but this is truly groundbreaking in its use of hoards of motion capture apes in real world locations for the first half of the film. Maybe the odd the background ape isn’t up to scratch but the detail and intricacy put into the wet fur in the opening sequence is a milestone achievement.
Effects focused films are generally quick to please on their initial views but a decade down the line it’ll becoming a gimicky mess without charm and story – that’s what divides Superman and Star Wars for met. It’d be easy to let the special effects become the USP here but thankfully DOTPOTA has the substance required.
The narrative, crafted by future Avatar scribes Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, is excellently done. Not dissimilar to a Shakespearean tragedy, it depicts friendship, mistrust and betrayal as well as the franchise’s defining themes of power play and race, even if they’re spelt out letter for letter this time around. It fantastically portrays the sense of mutual fear on both sides growing into aggression. The dialogue is good, not quite great, although ape actors can fully carry the story with their fantastic expression – the sign language subtitles may not have been necessary.
Despite the effects and writing, the real most valuable player is Andy Serkis in what could be his greatest performance. We may have seen the body language and genuinely ape-like presence before but the addition over Rise this time is the fantastic raw power of Serkis’ malleable voice. A second Academy overlook in his career (after The Two Towers) is inevitable but it won’t be any less frustrating; there’s no real excuse for mainstream prejudice now. Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight), Sigourney Weaver (Aliens), Johnny Depp (Pirates) and Alec Guinness (Star Wars) have become wildcard nods in the past and Serkis deserves it more than any.
The other standout performance is of Toby Kebbell, finally giving us a reason to get excited about the new Doctor Doom. He brilliantly plays Koba, an ape who despises Caesar’s sympathy for the humans who once tortured him. I’d deem him the best villain of the year so far and by far the most menacing. When these two acting powerhouses collide the result is the most tense action sequences since Captain Phillips.
Less admirable however are the occasionally clunky human counterparts. At the centre of this is The Great Gatsby star Jason Clarke who puts great effort into a fairly nondescript good-guy role. He’s a cut above James Franco’s scientist Will from Rise but inferior to Heston’s iconic mix of sickened and terrified as Taylor in the original.
Young star Kodi Smit-McPhee is fairly good as Malcom’s teen son Alexander although it is a hugely undeveloped role. A more laudable performance would be screen legend Gary Oldman, in far better form than in RoboCop earlier this year. He portrays Dreyfus, the surviving humans’ panicked leader, and perfectly conveys the sense of control slipping away bit by bit.
The film’s principal female characters, Keri Russell’s Ellie and Judy Greer’s Cornelia, are frustratingly relegated to dull mothering roles and barely get to influence the plot. The film draws up human/ape counterparts with Caesar/Malcolm, Blue Eyes (Nick Thurstan as Caesar’s rebellious son)/Alexander and Koba/Dreyfus but no such parallels are provided between these two. Of coarse this is never as exploitative as earlier action cinema but it’s disappointing to see this when plenty of others are getting it right.
Of coarse this naturally flows into an action packed finale and it begins stunningly. Trying as hard as I can to not give anything away in the slightest, a truly terrifying raid sequence kicks things off and it’ll be easy to spot Zulu as an obvious inspiration. The brutality of the combat, the fantastic use of slo-mo and (less dramatically) the fur all combine for a brilliantly earth-shaking scene and Reeves’ spiralling work on, what (for spoilery reasons) we shall now refer to as, “the tank shot” is simply incredible.
What ensues is a one-on-one duel between two characters audiences will come to love dearly and it defiantly ramps up the tension. While it’s leaps and bounds over its puny competition, the fight seems greatly overshadowed by the astonishing set piece it follows and perhaps a little generic for an esteemed franchise such as this.
Of coarse the work of Reeves, Jaffa, Silver, Serkis, Kebbell and co is excellent but musical maestro Michael Giacchino steals the show at every turn. Not only has he crafted some excellent monkey puns on the tracklist (The Apes of Wrath, Gorilla Warfare, Aped Crusaders, How Bonobo Can You Go, Close Encounters of the Furred Kinds…) but boldly gone into the rare territory of bombastically unnerving scores to accompany his traditional sweeping strings. It might not compare to his work on Star Trek, Up or Super 8 but beautifully homages composing of a very different era.
Faultless it is not, conforming female roles a plenty, but I’d strongly support the case that Dawn is the best Planet of the Apes yet. It’ll be nightmare picking a standout star: Gary Oldman is superb; Toby Kebbell will undoubtedly become a huge star; Matt Reeves, Weta and Giacchino have produced sterling work but Andy Serkis, a paragon to all hoping to spark a revolution in performance, is the man who’ll take his delayed position at the throne of Hollywood.
9/10
“Apes do not want war but will fight if we must! Ape…home. Human…home. Do not come back!”
Many would argue that this Summer movie season began back in late April but, for me, releases such as Captain America: The Winter Soldier, X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Godzilla, Maleficent and Edge of Tomorrow fall into the pre-summer category; the real holiday battle begins in June and runs through August. Transformers: Age of Extinction was set to kick off the season in style but has flopped with critics. Eyes are turning to Guardians of the Galaxy, Hercules and (sigh) The Expendables 3 but, with an immensely positive initial response and boasting the best special effects of this year so far, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes seems the likely candidate to carry the summer.
Its two most valuable players are star Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings, The Prestige, The Adventures of Tintin, Godzilla, King Kong) and director Matt Reeves (Let Me In, Cloverfield, Felicity), a former protogee of JJ Abrams, the man who will revive Star Wars. Reeves has now revealed how the brilliant Serkis went about getting cast in Episode VII. “I showed him a bit of the movie,” he announces.
“I wanted to get some feedback. And I know that he had known and really loved Andy Serkis. But it’s the same experience I had coming in and asking to see all the footage of Andy from Rise with him in his helmet cam, so that I could understand exactly what the process was. And the thing that struck me, and actually got me so excited, was the mystery behind how great he is, is that he’s great. That he’s an amazing actor. And the scenes that I showed Abrams were of Andy just in mo-cap. And he was like, “Oh my God, he’s an incredible actor.” He was so blown away.”
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes will star Jason Clarke, Andy Serkis, Keri Russell, Kodi Smit McPhee, Toby Kebbell, Judy Greer and Gary Oldman while Star Wars features Domnhall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Gwendoline Christie, Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Carrie Fisher, Max Von Sydow, Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill.
We don’t often adventure to the world of television but when we do you now we’re talking about something big. Now that now that the previous series-turned-international-phenomenon Breaking Bad has come to its finale (or Felina), Game of Thrones is probably America’s biggest drama, although True Detective and Mad Men may have something to say about that. The recent season four premier was as big a success as ever with record breaking viewing numbers. It’s not too surprising then to hear that HBO have called for series 5 and 6.
This means one thing: George R R Martin – get writing! We can expect these future series to feature Peter Dinklage, Maisie Williams, Kit Harrington, Lena Headey, Jack Gleeson, Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster Waldau and Charles Dance.
We’re pretty excited to reveal a new set of stills from simian sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. These pics confirm the tribal-like style of the apes who are still developing their civilisation. We also get a peak at how the ape/human confrontations could play out as well as some fantastic CGI, a feature which made the first film so impressive. Dawn is directed by Cloverfield’s Matt Reeves and stars Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings), Judy Greer (Three Kings), Toby Kebbell (Wrath of the Titans), Keri Russell (Felicity), Kodi Smit McPhee (The Road) and Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty). Find all of the photos here (click next to cycle through).
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – July 17th
Game of Thrones season 4 – continues Sundays on HBO and Sky Atlantic
We start with an apology for yesterday’s absence. We’d scheduled it to be the day of my review of Marvel’s thriller Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Our review will arrive on Sunday but today we’re making up for that with some incredibly exciting film news for three of this year’s biggest movies.
In my mind, Christopher Nolan is the single greatest British writer/director of this century. He began his career with the first class thrillers Insomnia and The Following but found his big break with the psychological mystery Memento. That soon lead to him landing the director’s chair on Batman Begins. From there, he confirmed legendary status with The Dark Knight, The Prestige, The Dark Knight Rises and Inception and his technologically stunning and brilliantly written film’s has received a total of 21 Oscar nominations.
So, you won’t be surprised to hear that it is with great excitement and trepidation that we report anything to do with his new film. Still, the ever secretive Nolan has told us very little about it: it’s titled Interstellar, has a greatly impressive cast list and must have something to do with space. He’s finally given a hint at what it’s like to be working with the man who’s currently the biggest actor on the planet: the Oscar winning Matthew MacConaughey. “I needed someone who is very much an everyman, someone the audience could experience the story with,” he says of the Wolf of Wall Street, True Detective and Dallas Buyers Club star. “He’s just a phenomenal, charismatic presence in the movie. His performance is shaping up to be extraordinary.”
Nolan also added a little to do with the styling of the film. “We have spatial interiors. We built closed sets and shot it like a documentary, like they were really there.” Interstellar also stars Anne Hathaway, Casey Affleck, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, Topher Grace, Wes Bentley, Mackenzie Foy, David Oyelowo, John Lithgow, Ellen Burstyn, David Gyasi and Matt Damon.
Today’s next snippet comes from Empire’s set-pics from the simian sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Cloverfield’s Matt Reeves directs the film which has released some awesome shots of the terrifying apes before their post-production motion capture transformation. The film stars Gary Oldman, Judy Greer, Jason Clarke, Keri Russell, Toby Kebbell, Kodi Smit McPhee and Andy Serkis.
Today’s final report concerns the release of the very first trailer for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Michael Bay (director of Transformers) produces this reboot of the cult animation while Jonathan Liebesman (Wrath of the Titans, Battle Los Angeles) directs. The cast list includes of the action adventure includes Alan Ritchson, Noel Fisher, Jeremy Howard, Pete Ploszek, Megan Fox, William Fichtner, Will Arnett, Danny Woodburn and Whoopi Goldberg.
The first trailer for the new Planet of the Apes film dawned onto the internet about seven or eight hours ago and it’s pretty epic. It’s not as extensive as we’d hoped but it confirms some of the key tones and styles of the film that we didn’t expect. The following contains some major spoilers for Rise of the Planet of the Apes so beware.
So, there’s been eight years of violence on the earth since ALZ 113 spread around the globe, likely killing several billion. It’s not yet post apocalyptic, according to the production team, and we can assume that both the humans area still overpowering the intelligently advanced apes (Caeser, Andy Serkis, and co are still using tribal weapons) but we can tell the tides are to turn. Caeser’s growing nation certainly have set their sights on one of the large groups of human survivors who are defiantly threatening their territory.
Serkis, Gary Oldman and Jason Clarke are the only key actors from the prequel to feature in the new teaser however Judy Greer, Keri Russell, Toby Kebbell and Kodi Smit McPhee also make up the impressive cast. The talent goes beyond the cast however. Let Me In and Cloverfield’s Matt Reeves directs and the film also has the brilliant duo of Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver writing. It’s still hugely unlikely that DOTPOTA (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) will feature stars of ROTPOTA (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) such as James Franco, Freida Pinto, Tom Felton, Brian Cox, David Oyelowo and John Lithgow. Charlton Heston’s George Taylor from the ’68 original popping up in this spin franchise would be an interesting concept but nothings been said about it.
The only other bit of news is the new poster from Marc Webb’s superhero sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Andrew Garfield, Jamie Foxx, Emma Stone, Sally Field, Paul Giamatti, Dane DeHaan, Chris Cooper and Felicity Jones all star Enjoy!
Oblivion, Jack Reacher, Rock of Ages, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and Knight and Day are just some of the many Tom Cruise starring films that have fell flat of decent critical reception recently. We’d have to think back to Valkyrie and War of the Worlds (both made by hugely talented directors (Bryan Singer and Steven Spielberg)) for a positively received film with Cruise in the lead role. Edge of the Tomorrow has a good concept (Groundhog Day meets Starship Troopers), director (The Bourne Identity’s Doug Liman) and supporting cast (Emily Blunt and Bill Paxton) and so could bring Cruise back into the favour of the critics.
The first trailer for Edge of Tomorrow has come in for your own entertainment. It promises cracking action as well as some truly original plots
We’ve got the very first posters for the new sequel/prequel to a legendary fantasy series that isn’t The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. It’s of coarse Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Matt Reeves (Let Me In and Cloverfield director) is calling the shots while Gary Oldman, Andy Serkis, Judy Greer, Kodi Smit McPhee and Keri Russell all star as well as Jason Clarke who’s now entering talks to play John Connor, confirming that Christian Bale won’t feature. He could be alongside either Brie Larson, Emilia Clarke or Margot Robbie who have all confirmed to have auditioned for the role of Sarah Connor, John’s mother, for the new director Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World). Arnold Schwarzenegger is still set to return.
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