“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” knocked me on my ass when I first saw it. At the end, when the closing credits were rolling by, I just couldn’t move from my seat in the theater. And I am really super cynical about movies.
I was really worried about this new one, since the director changed, but it is just looking close to perfect. I always worry about Director changes on film series – it feels like a management change, and goals and priorities generally change in those situations. The biggest example would be Joel Schumacher taking over Batman from Tim Burton. He doubled down on some of the aesthetic, but totally booted the rest.
I am relieved that it doesn’t look like that is happening here. We can probably thank Harry Potter for that, since that is the first big film series that changed Directors but maintained a clear sense of stylisitic and intellectual continuation.
Anyway, check out this awesome clip from “Dawn of the Rise of the Planet of the Apes’. Koba is smarter than he acts.