In the wake of a disaster that changed the world, the growing and genetically evolving apes find themselves at a critical point with the human race. imdb

What enjoyable Saturday afternoon fodder!

So, so thrilled that the great Andy Serkis finally gets top billing too. His motion capture portrayal of the head ape, Caesar, is remarkable. He may be the most famous actor audiences have never seen – playing Gollum in LOTR, King Kong in King Kong and even Captain Haddock in Tin Tin. All mo-cap performances, of course.

The other mo-cap (and keyframe) performances are very, very good too. The apes really come alive onscreen … and the deer, and the grizzly, and the horses – all thanks to Weta Workshops in New Zealand. Special mention should be made of Toby Kebbell as Koba, the ape most damaged by human experiments and the architect of the eventual conflict. I am also a bit impressed that the marvellous Maurice – teacher, scholar and deep-voiced orangutan is played by a woman – Karin Konoval.

The other production values on this film are really very good too. The sound is excellent, with the tension being amped up by the sounds of apes, rain and a few other effects coming from all over the cinema. The sets and augmented backgrounds are rich with detail and give the sense of a real, ruined world.

The human actors are quite understated, even the wonderful Gary Oldman, who can munch scenery when he isn’t kept in check, gives a balanced performance in a role that could have been completely O.T.T. Toby Smit-McPhee, a young Australian making his way in Hollywood, is good as the token teen (young people are the future and all that). Whilst fellow Australian Jason Clarke (as ubiquitous as Callan Mulvey in American action films – they were both in Zero Dark Thirty) and Keri Russell are particularly effective. However some others are reduced to action film stereotypes – the trigger-happy hothead, the unsuspecting guard etc etc.

But hey, this is a big, bold adventure film – NOT an Oscar contender.

Award material or not, the seamless effects, the story driven action and the whole ‘big screen’ vibe of the film leads me to believe that the director, Matt Reeves, ran a tight ship. No easy matter with a production this big – although he did make Cloverfield, a most enjoyable sci-fi, where the choreography of each shot was vital to the end result. So he is well practiced.

Major snaps to him for delivering an enjoyable, if nihilistic, adventure that poses questions on cause and effect.

Just a shame that it leaves itself so wide open for a sequel that there is no real conclusion to the story.