Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

2014 sequel of the 2011 reboot of the 1968 adaptation of the 1963 novel.
==First watch (17th July 2014)==
===Format===
2D Cineworld with Mum, Sarah and Shaun.
===Journal===
I really loved the first one, I watched it at the cinema without any expectations that I can remember and it just blew me away. I hated three of the main human actors but that didn't matter. So when this film came out I was, with tempered expectations now that I've learned never to expect too much of any film, in the cinema the day it came out to see it.
I wasn't amazed, really. I thought the story was really standard fair for the sort of Roman/historical general rises up against his king and takes power through deception and plotting. It didn't have anything from the first film that I loved, like the wow-factor of emerging intelligence being awesome, or the apes using their strength and power occasionally but effectively and impressively, or sneaky philosophical messages that tickled your brain discretely. And nothing actually seemed to happen of any consequence. Caesar's still alive and the leader, the humans are still around, the apes are still in an emerging but separate civilisation, by the end it just seemed like 'well what's changed?'.
But as a middle-film of a trilogy I guess it kinda makes sense, if the point is to get to the 'war' over the course of the three films. If the final one is good enough it'll give this one its place.
===Rating===
0
==Second watch (23rd March 2015)==
===Format===
At home
===Journal===
I liked it better this time, knowing what story it was teling. I think I was disappointed last time because I was hoping for something as fresh and surprising as the first one. It told a pretty solidly-constructed arc of the theft of power in that sort of society, to its credit. I just didn't enjoy it as much as the first.
===Rating===
1
Category:2010s films
Category:Planet of the Apes films
Category:Science fiction films
Category:Films watched in 2014
Category:Films with 0 rating
Category:Films watched in 2015
Category:Films with 1 rating