In 2011, ‘Rise of the planet of the Apes’ was a successful blockbuster that smashed the big screen effortlessly and left a juicy taste of eagerness in audiences’ mouths. Now, we’re dribbling at the trailers and scanning the posters as we calmly await the release of ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’!
Humans are intelligent, however, with intelligence comes arrogance, and arrogance will arguably be the end of us. A universal fear is losing power, so should humans terminate their phlegmatic arrogance and expunge the hypothesis of a Monkey Planet? Not just yet. Although Apes are intelligent, more intelligent than we originally could have dreamed, they are not ready to wage wars. Mainly because their intelligence is capped at imitation.
The story stems from a French novel ‘La Plan è te des Singes’ (1963) written by Pierre Boulle. The novel was ‘Accidentally Sci Fi’ and simply aimed to show Apes as human-like as possible. Boulle was fascinated with how human-like gorillas appeared to be when he visited a zoo. “I believe it was triggered by a visit to the zoo where I watched the gorillas. I was impressed by their human-like expressions/ It led me to dwell upon and imagine relationships between humans and apes,” Boulle said.
Directed by Rupert Wyatt, ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ was anticipated to be the blockbuster of the summer (2011). Boasting a talented James Franco, it delivered an energetic and updated concept of a perpetuating story. Directed by Matt Reeves (‘Cloverfield’ in 2013 and ‘Let Me In’ in 2012) ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ appears to have followed a similar cinematic style and will hopefully stay faithful to the original film whilst also sticking to the world that Wyatt initially created.
It is undeniably patent that we are going to be plunged into a much darker world, because Wyatt’s primary job was to whet our palates and start a story in order to justify the formidable blood-drenched end. One thing that could make the film a disappointment is if Reeve’s struggle to take the reigns and create an altogether new experience of a planet ruled by apes. We expect similarities to ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ but we want war and blood and anguish, therefor we should keep our expectations minimal. If we do then we are not supporting the original story and if the trailers are anything to go by, then the prequel is fairly light-hearted compared to what Reeves has in store for us!
Apes are often described as being our ‘closest’ relatives here on planet earth and humans and apes roughly share a staggering 99% of DNA, so it’s no wonder that the story is so successful; it’s manipulating and restoring a repressed fear! (humans losing their current reign of power!) Reeves needs to update this fear to suit a modern audience in order for the film to be successful.
So with this in mind, we are in a stable state of awe as we impatiently await the exciting new spin on the 1968 adaptation. Will It be an embarrassing calamity? Or a reanimated success? Hopefully a success; the trailer has fueled our anticipation and so far, we are hooked!
‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ is due to be released in cinemas 17thJuly.
