Tag Archives: science fiction

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

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Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is the next film in sequence. It’s another remake of the earlier films.

Dreyfus (Gary Oldman – Harry Potter) leads a gang of humans to fight the apes, who are led by Caesar (Andy Serkis – Lord of the Rings). Caesar was in the last film, now he leads a group of apes living in the forest.

It was very dark and dismal. The sets were very grim, as humanity has been battered by some type of virus. Only those immune to it have lived. Cities are run down and there’s not much order about. The tone was very downbeat.

The humans need a water pump thing, which is in ape territory, and now things are so tense that they cannot enter. There’s already been one incident where an ape has been shot by a human.

Things didn’t improve in the ape camp, bickering and fighting between Caesar and Koba (Toby Kebbel) gets worse. It reaches boiling point when Koba attacks Caesar and tries to frame the humans, this inciting the war needed for the apes to destroy humans and have their dawn!

I saw the some of the early Planet of the Apes films and preferred them. It wasn’t all doom and gloom, people and apes living in run down cities, ready to fight at a moments notice.

I did like the home footage included from the previous film where Caesar was growing up. However, although Malcolm (Jason Clark) and Elle (Keri Russell) were good as the couple out to befriend the apes, the events were far too glum for them to lift the spirits.

Films like this do so much damage to the image of apes, yes they have a savage streak but they wouldn’t survive in the wild if they didn‘t. The animal kingdom can be rich and lively – but it contains a deadliness.

I felt this film centred far too much, on what was bad. Even the ending for me did not dispel the horror of the implications. This is where there’s too much CGI and the script suffers for it.

5/10 from me. A tale mismanaged from the start. Tales of the future should inspire not deflate!

Image reproduced from Ronerds.com
Trailer reproduced from Fresh Movie Trailers

Captain America – The Winter Soldier

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Captain America - The Winter Soldier
Captain America – Winter Soldier was an entertaining movie. It all began with a run in the park, meeting a paramedic. Playing catch up as Steve Rogers/Capt America (Chris Evans) can jog 33 miles in 13 minutes!

Steve has a list of things to do as he‘s been frozen for over 50 years! However, it isn’t long when he is called in for duty. A ship is going off course, it’s owned by his agency SHIELD. Have pirates invaded the ship? He doesn’t need a parachute and can jump from the plane to the ship, using his amazing shield to protect himself.
He’s teamed up with agent Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson). Who wants to find him a date.

A battle starts as they engage the enemies holding SHIELD personnel hostage. When Natasha uses the mission to download Intel off the ship’s computer than save hostages, Steve guesses something is up.

After a meeting with his boss, Steve meets up with his former sweetheart Peggy, who’s now an old woman. There’s an entire exhibition about Capt America and his old uniform is preserved. He sees pictures of his former best friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). He meets up with the paramedic he met at the park, who holds meetings for people to talk about their feelings.

Director Fury (Samuel L Jackson) looks into the matter Steve raised and asks for a Project Insight to be delayed, he’s soon targeted for assassination! He has a very cool van packed with some very cool technology!

Steve has a neighbour, who he fancies but the interlude is cut short. Director Fury is hiding out at Steve’s apartment! Before they can really talk, the flat is subject to gunfire. Director Fury is hit. He hands Steve a USB, tells him to trust no one. Steve’s neighbour breaks in and reveals she’s a SHEILD agent assigned to protect him. Steve goes after the hit man, who has a metal arm and wears some type of gas mask. After an epic fight, he escapes.

The Secretary of the State (Robert Redford) takes over the agency and when Steve won’t tell him what happened, he declares Captain America a threat, forcing him to go on the run and be a fugitive.

This movie packs a wallop and a half. Witty dialogue, surprise twist and great CGI. I just love all the actors in their roles and there’s no short of thrills. I love the banter between Steve and Natasha, and they have many good interactions.
The fight scenes were astounding. Natasha must have the coolest mobile phone! Moreover, one of the shock twists at the end was mind-blowing.

The only things I didn’t like was, it preachy at certain times.
Stockpiling weapons = fear.
Rich people = megalomaniac.

In addition, some of the twists do seem to be questioning the SHIELD agency itself. As there is a weekly TV series on called the Agents of SHEILD, casting shadows on the very organisation that powers this show, could cause damage.

Surely, the audience have to believe in SHIELD as our saviour that’s why it was created in the first place! The old adage of not befouling your own house springs to mind.

I’m giving this 8/10 as a result.

Spoiler alert!
(You have the see this movie just for Jenny Agutter’s fight scene!)

Image reproduced from Edgecastcdn
Trailer reproduced from Marvel Entertainment.