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9 comments
17 comments
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on 7/11/2014
Dawn I felt added too and improved upon Rises which was a very good film to begin with
I really liked Rise of the Planet of the Apes, but Dawn is darker and filled with more intensity, emotion, and higher stakes. It felt more grand than its predecessor.
on 7/14/2014
While Dawn was more intense, I felt that Rise was more balanced. There was some degree of emotional and thematic relief. And it spends less time preaching to me than Dawn does. I liked Clarke more than Franco, but Franco's character was more relatable to me for some reason.
Dawn was better on every level.
I think ROTPOTA is the better film overall and the decisive factor for me is that it completely avoided the pitfalls of staging elaborate actions sequences that go on so long they overstay their welcome. Further, ROTPOTA's characters had motives born of their own necessity and not the demands of producing an exciting script which was why its climax could absolutely claim the same. I will say the sequel is more than worthy as sequels go.
on 7/29/2014
Dawn is definitely a solid sequel and I enjoyed it but I think I like Rise just a little more.
on 8/2/2014
Righty-ho, what to say? Having just seen Dawn today, and Rise a couple of weeks ago for the first time, I think the two do compliment each other very well, managing to be aesthetically, tonally and thematically different under two different directors whilst working off of each other well and maintaining a very good standard of intelligent blockbuster filmmaking. However, I'd say that Rise just clinches this one, for being the more thrilling, emotionally engaging film which implemented characters from BOTH species better than Dawn did. While Dawn does a good job at bringing new ideas and scenarios to the table in this universe, as well as improving on the effects from three years ago, it does fall a little flat when focusing on the human characters, which lack the variety and personal conflicts and character facets of those in the first film (these things are there in Dawn, but they are very limited). I suppose you could argue that the focus rightly stayed on the apes because that's where the meat of the story and production values should be, but I think the film could have been even better if it had fleshed out the humans a bit more than the odd crying scene from Gary Oldman. Also it's not great with its female characters on either side. On the other hand, Matt Reeves has done far worse with his human characters in previous Sci-Fi films (Cloverfield being a good case in point), so I suppose I shouldn't complain too much. Anyway both very good, and two good incentives to watch the original franchise, but Rise just edges this one out for me.
Dawn was much more intelligent and felt more confident than Rise which, though I liked it, didn't really live up to it's hype.
I thought that Dawn represented a small improvement on Rise (which itself was pretty decent) but felt that they really dropped the ball with Koba, he started out as a wonderfully complex character but by the latter half of the movie was annoyingly turned into a relatively two dimensional villain...
I'm with smatticus on this one; Rise is way better on an emotional level. Dawn lacks the dynamic between Caesar and the humans, which made Rise so good. They tried to replicate it with Jason Clark's character, but that failed for me. Besides that, I remember enjoying Rise much more than Dawn; the latter really underwhelmed me for some reason. I think it had something to do with the bland as hell human characters, the predictability of the story or the fairly boring "let's fix the dam" portion of the film. My opinion of Rise has soured somewhat after seeing the original films (the amount of references to the other films (the first one in particular) is insane), but I did like it more than Dawn.
on 8/3/2014
Goodness. Both were fantastic....how can I choose?
on 9/8/2014
Rise was great and relaunched the franchise, setting the stage for the even better Dawn.
On pretty equal ground for me. I almost always prefer first films in a series, but this was a rare exception.
on 11/4/2014
Rise does the characters much better, but Dawn has a lot more going for it. Still, I would take Franco over Clarke every single time.
on 11/22/2014
Dawn upped the first one in every way....except perhaps the human drama...
on 1/22/2015
David Oyelowo, James Franco and Frieda Pinto > Gary Oldman, Jason Clarke and Keri Russell. Rise > Dawn
on 7/14/2015
dawn
on 7/26/2015
Wasn't a fan of Rise, I found Dawn much better. Maybe Rise needs a re watch but for now I'm taking the sequel.
on 8/1/2015
They're quite mediocre predictable, formulaic movies. I love Caesar's character though and Andy Serkis plays him very well. They're entertaining, but obvious. Rise I like more.
on 9/19/2015
I enjoy Rise a lot more.
on 9/25/2015
Rise easily.Love dawn but the emotional impact of rise is unmatched
on 1/24/2016
I was more emotionally involved with Rise. Dawn had great moments but it left me feeling more detached from the story.
on 5/7/2016
Rise is REALLY great, but Dawn builds upon that to deliver a great movie with action, world-building, and character.
on 6/3/2016
Dawn, close one tho. I loved Rise
on 8/1/2016
Rise was better than Dawn
on 6/10/2017
Dawn for building upon the foundations of Rise. Looking forward to War!
on 6/11/2017
Dawn is really overrated. The story was predictable and weak, it lacks any tension or stakes and the second half was a giant action sequence where I didn't know who to go for. Rise is one of my favourite films of the decade so it's the clear winner!
on 9/15/2022
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Mainly do to Koba and Gary Oldman
