Film Review: Pet Sematary

“Sometimes Dead Is Better…”

Acting as the most recent entry into the Stephen King revival era which has been embraced gleefully both on the big screen and the small thanks to the success of the likes of It, Mr. Mercedes and Netflix’s Gerald’s Game, Pet Sematary is the latest contemporary adaptation of one of the American writer’s most well-known novels from 1983, acting as a completely fresh adaptation after the rather lukewarm reception given to the 1989 and original film version which on retrospect, hasn’t exactly aged at all well. Directed by the film-making duo of Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer, whose previous work includes the little-seen horror flick, Starry Eyes, as well as credits on the television version of Scream, Pet Sematary sees Jason Clarke (First Man) as Louis Creed, a well-respected and straight-thinking university doctor who after moving his family to a remote woodland house on the outskirts of Ludlow, Maine, soon begins to experience a wide range of supernatural and nightmarish encounters, all of which seem to stem from the discovery of the local titular graveyard, a particularly powerful area which seems to be much much more than a quaint location for the local deceased bunny rabbit.

With King’s original novel undeniably one of his most nihilistic and terrifying tales to date, Kölsch and Widmyer’s movie does impressively manage to transfer the overarching sense of dread onto the big screen for pretty much the majority of the film’s one hundred minute run-time, and with the added boost of a particularly haunting musical score from horror auteur, Christopher Young (Hellraiser, Sinister) and enough creepy fog and pitch black cinematography to make David Fincher’s Seven look like something from CBeebies, it’s fair to say that in terms of atmospheric setting, Pet Sematary circa 2018 doesn’t just tick the box for the horror genre, it absolutely smothers it. With a superbly crafted cast which features a quartet of impressive performances including John Lithgow (Dexter) as the wise and elderly neighbour, Jud Crandall, and Amy Seimetz (Upstream Color) as Louis’ wife, Rachel Creed, the movie also benefits from the decision made by both screenwriters, Jeff Buhler and Matt Greenberg, to alter the central death at the heart of the story, a bold choice which is understandable in the way it makes complete cinematic sense whilst offering the chance for young Jeté Laurence to absolute oodles of fun with her role as the Creed’s young daughter. Whilst some differences to the novel do feel slightly jarring, including a shock-tastic ending which doesn’t carry the same impact as the book’s own conclusion, and the lack of real depth ultimately resulting in the film nowhere near as rewarding as the book, Pet Sematary doesn’t hold back on the sheer nastiness of the source material, and with a heavy dedication to King’s own written word, is a movie which is up there with the much better examples of what a Stephen King adaptation should ultimately look like.

Overall Score: 7/10

Film Review: The Aftermath

“There May Not Be An Outward Show Of Hatred, But It’s There Below The Surface…”

Returning to the cinematic good books after her superb and woefully unappreciated performance in Colette earlier this year, Keira Knightley leaps onto the big screen once again in The Aftermath, a wartime romantic drama which suffers from the strange cinematic disease of having a trailer which not only is much shorter and sweeter than the final body of work, but is entirely much more engaging and interesting. Directed by James Kent and based on Rhidian Brook’s 2013 novel of the same name, Knightley’s latest sees her take the lead role of Rachael Morgan, a wartime wife who is forced to move to the remains of a now defeated 1946 Hamburg, Germany in order to finally reconvene with her husband, Jason Clarke’s (First Man) Colonel Lewis Morgan, after years of separation due to the strenuous wartime effort. After arriving in the wintery and heavily damaged landscapes of the previously Nazi infested enemy territory, Rachael and her husband are quickly moved into the grand and overly modern residence of Alexander Skarsgård’s (Big Little Lies) Stefan Lubert, a grieving German architect, resulting in a relationship which begins resentful but soon turns into a spiral of romance and passion.

With acting pedigree this superb and a tantalising trailer which I can admit to it adequately catching my eye, the truth of the matter is that The Aftermath should undoubtedly be a much better and more interesting piece than it actually is. With a pace which would damage the reputation of a snail if comparisons were made, Kent’s movie wanders aimlessly through non-existent levels of drama as it attempts to paint a picture of post-war trauma and resentment between the tea-drinking Brits and the Germans, with the central relationship between Lubert and Morgan sort of acting as a lightweight personification as they soon fall in love behind the back of the war obsessed Colonel Morgan. With Knightley doing the best with what she is given from the script, her performance by no means matches the bipolar nature of her strangely annoying character, one who lacks any semblance of charm or likability and one who also contradicts every action and feeling every five seconds to an extent it would have probably been easier if she hadn’t made it through the war in the first place. With a couple of half decent set pieces. including a rather well played piano section, and a superb supporting performance from Skarsgård, The Aftermath is no means terrible, it just doesn’t seem to have a pulse, and for a movie which verges on the two hour mark, Kent’s movie ultimately is blandness personified. Shame

Overall Score: 4/10

Film Review: Serenity

“Say Fate Gave You The Choice: You Can Get The Lady, Or You Could Catch That Tuna That’s In Your Head. Which One Would You Choose..?”

On the one hand, Serenity is thankfully not an attempt to reboot the Firefly live-action spin-off of the same name from 2005, and instead is a movie which this week manages to pull off the contemporary trend of being released both on the big and small screens in a supposed attempt in order to gather an excessive amount of viewers on its’ opening weekend. Backed by the behemoth that is Sky Movies, whose previous endeavors, including the likes of Anon and Final Score, haven’t exactly set the critical underworld alike, Serenity is the latest from Peaky Blinders creator and Locke director, Steven Knight, who returns to the big screen with an absolutely bonkers and unbelievably stupid neo-noir thriller which has already been tipped as the front-runner heading into the next Razzies ceremony. Led by the usually respectable figure of Matthew McConaughey, (Interstellar) Knight’s movie sees the Oscar winning American as Baker Dill, an alcohol ridden, musky small-time fisherman whose quiet life on the island of Plymouth is soon interrupted by the re-emergence of ex-wife, Karen, played in equally over-the-top form by Anne Hathaway, who reunites with McConaughey after their work together on the masterful Interstellar. 

With an opening camera swoop which feels like a sub-90’s porno flick as we are swiftly introduced to the glowing sands and seas of the film’s idyllic locale, the tone of the movie is laid faced down almost immediately, with gobsmackingly awful dialogue and monologues about life-chasing tuna one of the many highlights of a piece which you can’t help but stare at in complete shock as you try and piece together how on earth such a raspberry pudding of a movie came to be. With a central narrative which blends together fantastical romance with some sort of supernatural mystery, the opening hour is stuffed with unintentional hilarity as we become subject to some of the most awful, ham-fisted acting performances I have seen for a very long time, typified by McConaughey himself who seems to have taken the material as serious as his work on Dallas Buyers Club and just ends up making a complete and utter turkey of himself as he drunkenly stumbles and screams his way through a performance which gives The Room‘s Tommy Wiseau a run for his money. Awful editing and effects aside, the real talking point of the movie is undoubtedly the final thirty minutes of the piece in which Knight goes full on M. Night Shyamalan with an already infamous and thunderously stupid jack-in-the-box twist, and whilst it’s obvious to class Serenity as a work of complete and utter nonsense, I cannot shy away from the fact that it made me laugh more times than most American comedies, and whilst such comedy is clearly unintentional and stems from Knight’s soon to be sectioned and ludicrous mind, the fact that certain points were actually quite enjoyable means that Serenity isn’t the worst film I’ve ever sat through, but it may indeed just be the silliest. So bad, it’s almost good.

Overall Score: 4/10

Film Review: First Man

“You’re A Bunch Of Boys Making Models Out Of Balsa Wood! You Don’t Have Anything Under Control…”

With a career so far which features two modern masterpieces and a well deserved Academy Award win, Whiplash and La La Land director, Damien Chazelle, returns to cinemas this week with First Man, a biographical drama based on the true story of renowned astronaut, Neil Armstrong, and his involvement within the troublesome quest throughout the 1960’s to land on the surface of the Moon. Featuring a screenplay from Spotlight and The Post screenwriter, Josh Singer, the Academy Award winning American uses James R. Hansen’s 2005 biographical novel, First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, as the primary basis for the depiction of events on screen, and whilst Chazelle does indeed focus heavily on the spectacle of space exploration with terrifying precision and accuracy, the real examination within the film is Armstrong himself as played by Ryan Gosling (Blade Runner 2049) who reunites with Chazelle after their successful partnership together on last year’s La La Land. With contemplations on the effect of grief and discussions regarding whether particular sacrifices fail to be justified in the discovery of the secrets of the universe, Chazelle’s latest is a thoroughly engaging and beautifully constructed work of cinema which although fails ever so slightly to maintain the American’s flawless cinematic record, is a bold and brave addition to history’s depiction of America’s greatest contemporary achievement.

With Singer’s screenplay choosing to primarily focus on the 1960’s Armstrong household which acts as the central cornerstone of the narrative throughout the film’s run-time, the audience becomes immediately privy to a broken and grief-stricken central relationship between Claire Foy’s (Unsane) Janet Shearon, and Gosling’s take on an American hero whose silence and introverted nature makes it hard to break the character down, a purposeful decision by Chazelle who utilises the performance of Foy to share the frustration of the audience in the failed attempts to crack the surface of a person tangling with not only the pressures of the grounded life around him but the wider purpose handed to him. Whilst Gosling is renowned for sombre, brooding performances in the likes of Blade Runner 2049 and Drive, Chazelle utilises the stern stare of the Canadian to create an ice-like template of a person attempting to nullify the pain of loss by succeeding at what he knows how to do best, and with the freedom offered to him in the emptiness and vastness of outer space, First Man chooses to view the Moon landings as an excuse for Armstrong to trade the loneliness and harshness of planet Earth for the the loneliness and harshness of the unexplored blackness waiting for him outside the atmosphere containing him on ground level.

With Chazelle once again utilising the now Academy Award winning skills of his movie-making team from both Whiplash and La La Land, composer Justin Hurwitz continues to impress upon the big screen with yet another impressive musical body of work, mixing classical strings with atmospheric snarls within a soundtrack which includes one particular track which clearly evoked Strauss’ “The Blue Danube” from 2001: A Space Odyssey with a slight hint of La La Land-esque romantic sensibility, and with Linus Sandgren returning as Chazelle’s cinematographer, the Swede chooses to shoot the grounded drama of the 1960’s with a grainy, Battle of the Sexes-esque aesthetic, saving the power of the IMAX cameras for the concluding journey into outer space, where vast darkness and utter silence has never looked so utterly beautiful. Whilst the decision to focus more on the man rather than the expedition may indeed alienate some audiences heading into a screening of First Man eager to witness an abundance of space exploration, Chazelle’s construction of the few shuttle set pieces when they do come are terrifying, evoking a maniacal sense of claustrophobia as the camera is literally shoved into a tin box alongside our daring heroes who come to realise that all that separates them from certain death is a couple of screws and some tightly woven, rather shaky metal. Choosing to focus on the emotional resonance of one man’s story against the backdrop of the Apollo missions, Chazelle’s latest is a lavish, visually stunning and perfectly acted character study which not only emphasises the young American’s luscious talent for producing memorable cinematic experiences but also highlights the ease in which a difficult tale such as the one central to First Man can be handled with such maturity and effortlessness. See it in IMAX.

Overall Score: 9/10

Film Review: Winchester

“I Feel Their Presence. In The Air, In The Walls. He Has Found Us…”

With last year’s Jigsaw not being as terrible as one might have thought and Predestination still being a particularly mind-bending and wholly entertaining guilty pleasure, The Spierig Brothers aren’t exactly renowned for airing on the side of caution when it comes to their movies, and returning this week with Winchester, starring Dame Helen Mirren (The Queen) as the famous titular true to life figure of Sarah Winchester, the mould doesn’t exactly stop here. Setting the narrative within the confines of Winchester House in San Jose, California at the turn of the 20th century, Winchester follows Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty) as the drug addicted doctor, Eric Prince, who is tasked by representatives of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company to medically assess Sarah Winchester’s mental state as she pours her inherited income into constant construction of her isolated mansion in order to fulfil the wishes of the dead through her interaction with a medium after the passing of her late husband. Part The Haunting, part every single generic horror movie release ever made, The Spierig Brothers’ latest is uncharacteristically dreadful, a movie so woeful in its’ construction that you fail in your attempts to nod off thanks to a wide-set reliance on ridiculously loud jump scares which become worse and worse as the movie moves along, and even with a straight-to-video temperament surrounding it, Winchester can’t even be defined as so bad it’s good; it’s just trash.

With each of the performances rivalling Gods of Egypt for the title of worst ensemble cast performance of recent times, the narrative dwindles its’ way through a The Cabin in the Woods and, more specifically, a Thirteen Ghosts-esque setup, utilising the pull of being based on “actual events” to inspire a sense of horror at the sight of witnessing all hell breaking loose on-screen, ranging from high-pitched screaming hell demons to murdered psychopathic waiters who every now and then feel the need to explode onto the screen, screeching musical accompaniment in hand, in order to enforce a cattle-prod sensibility in which the lost art of actual horror and spine-tingling tension is unfortunately replaced with tedious, never-ending jump scares. With the plot ludicrous, the horror elements distastefully stupid, and even Mirren’s portrayal of a better financed Jennet Humfrye, AKA, The Woman in Black, being totally ridiculous, not even a Dame can save such a hot-steamed mess of a movie, and whilst many may enjoy the chance to jolt out of your seat every ten seconds thanks to an immensely setup surround sound system in your local screening of the movie, The Spierig Brothers have landed on their first cinematic calamity, with Winchester a movie which not only pokes fun at its’ claims of fictional inspiration but sticks needles in the eyes of all horror audiences who by now have learnt that not all horror is created equal.

Overall Score: 2/10

Film Review: Everest

Snow, Lot’s of Snow

When a challenge with an intensity such as climbing Mount Everest is set upon us humans by the greater gods, aliens, those weird blue things from Prometheus, or whatever you believe in in regards to our creation, the natural response from almost everyone on Earth is to stay as far away as humanly possible from almost what is near-certain death, but in the case of the mad minority, a chosen few in the last century or so have decided to attempt such a feat in climbing safely to the top of Earth’s highest mountain, with the latest popcorn-fueled, 3D epic in the form of the aptly named Everest, attempting to tell the tale of the real events of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster in which SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS. Obviously if you are well versed in the National Geographic channel or other alternative options to observe our recent history, such spoilers limit the film’s appeal in some sense, but if unbeknownst to the facts, like myself, Everest brings a sharp cinematic appeal to one of the world’s most spectacular wonders.

Boasting a cast so A-List top-heavy, you could have been fooled for thinking actors such as Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Josh Brolin, were set to appear in a arctic spin-off of Avengers Assemble, Everest’s first half consists of both character development and build-up to an almost inevitable conclusion, particularly if you had seen the trailer, regarding the group’s attempt to accomplish their goal of reaching the top of the mountain, Not only does Everest suffer from the familiar movie trait of giving too much away in its’ pre-release trailers resulting in a feeling of, “oh, just hurry up and reach the top,” but subsequently suffers from an almost cramped amount of characters seemingly all played in cameo fashion from A-Lister’s such as Gyllenhaal and Brolin, without having one solid lead or hero, even if it is suggested that Clarke’s role as Rob Hall was the intended recipient of such with the movie switching from focus between Clarke and Brolin in the first and second acts.

If the first half of Everest is somewhat lacklustre, the second half of the film more than makes up for it and undoubtedly saves the film no-end, with the sheer horror of survival in the face of certain death being expertly displayed across gorgeous cinematography whilst scenes of sheer horror in which the effects of such perils are unpleasantly displayed result in a heavy sense of squeamishness. Although scenes in which the true horror and danger of climbing such a feat could have been added to, the film did at times leave me with a sense of vertigo but not in a fashion I would have deemed adequate from a disaster movie in which the tension should definitely be current throughout, something of which cannot be said of Everest, even with the mountainous terrain being constantly adhered to by the film-makers. Everest is a film that aspires to be a metaphorical equivalent to its’ title, with an A-List cast undoubtedly boosting the appeal but it suffers heavily from a slow first half and too many characters with none sticking out from the crowd in an attempt to form any meaningful emotional bond with throughout the course of their life-or-death situation.

Overall Score: 7/10

Terminator Genisys – Double Trouble Review – I’ll probably be back

DAN – As soon as it was announced that a new Terminator movie was set to grace our screens sometime this year, the first thought that came to mind was “flogging the horse”, with the annoyingly named Terminator Genisys (Erm, dictionary anyone?) being the FIFTH instalment of a series in which the first two both settle in the category of classics, whilst its’ successors only manage to solidify themselves into the category of, “okay, but not brilliant”. With Arnie taking a break off from the franchise in Terminator Salvation, his return in the Alan Taylor directed Genisys, was at least some sort of reconciliation with my personal love for the series, with Mr. Schwarzenegger always having that monumental feat of being a truly brilliant screen presence, regardless of how bad a film he is in may be (Think of “classics” such as Eraser for example). Unfortunately for Arnold and friends, including Emilia Clarke (Erm, Game of Thrones), Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty), Jai Courtney (Die Hard 5), and the lovely Matt Smith (Doctor Who), the sign of how mediocre a film like Terminator Genisys actually is can be traced back to the first theatrical trailer in which for its’ entire duration we are treated to echoes, lines, and even direct scenes from previous entries in the series and after finally watching the movie in its’ complete package, that’s pretty much what I took from it, with Genisys being a movie essentially jealous of its’ better, older siblings and it subsequently attempting to mimic them into becoming something it most definitely isn’t. Rant mode activated.

The plot of Terminator Genisys, if it can actually be called a plot, focuses on the war-torn John Connor’s (Clarke) attempts to finally foil the Skynet invasion of Judgement Day by sending back good friend and fellow soldier Kyle Reese (Courtney) to the 1980’s by use of a Skynet designed time-machine which has already sent back a Terminator to kill off Sarah Connor, the mother of John, in order to prevent the resistance of man from ever coming to fruition. Uh, hold up, isn’t this just the plot from the first Terminator? Yes. It is. But wait! In an attempt to do something wholly original, Genisys attempts to make us believe that the events of the first two Terminator movies in fact never happened with a plot line that is one, completely ludicrous, two, not clear-cut or understandable in the slightest, and three, certainly abides by the 12A certificate by presenting no sense of threat, shock or horror throughout its’ two-hour runtime and in fact, keeping with the Matt Smith casting, actually felt like a two-hour Doctor Who episode, solidified by the cheesy, saccharin sweet ending in which my love for the Terminator series was seriously put into question.

Aside from the nonsensical plot, Genisys was evidently a film in love with its’ previous incarnations, with way too many in-house references to the first two Terminators, whether it be cheesy, over-used lines such as “get out”, or “I’ll be back”, direct copy of villain choice, with the brilliant Robert Patrick portrayal of the T-1000 in Judgment Day being replaced with a shoddy, boring, no-one that thankfully was on screen less than I actually expected, or just the same characters, albeit in a much more boring and shallow reincarnation. I mean, I love Emilia Clarke as much as the next man but to be honest, she is no Linda Hamilton, and Clarke’s portrayal of Sarah Connor just felt wrong and flat, with no sense of depth or a case for me to actually believe Clarke could be this character. I’m sorry Emilia, you have been miscast. Of course, in any case in which a film has so many negative attributes, there are some positives, with the film being rather silly and fun in some places, with some of the effects being so cool it actually produced a little snigger of joy now and then, but when it comes to the fulfilment of a movie, I personally need more than that, and Terminator Genisys may indeed be action-packed and explosive ridden on the surface, but its’ depth is essentially non-existent, resulting in a popcorn movie for the masses rather than a much-loved classic like its’ older, and indeed better, siblings.

Dan’s Score – 4/10

 

PETE – Well, it seems like Dan and I have swapped roles this week. Since Jurassic World’s giant disappointment, I was left hoping that Terminator would do something different and dazzle me. Fortunately it did. Sure, its not the greatest movie in the series but it didn’t simply repeat itself with a half-arsed money spinner with a plot that was vacant of any consistency.Terminator is another movie from my childhood that I actually feel was a decent reboot. Lets hope its not a new trilogy…

The plot was basic. It was a little complex and over convoluted with the general use of time travel but the rest of it is very simple. I wasn’t expecting something with a story like Interstellar, I wanted something entertaining with a plot that wasn’t ripped off from the previous generations. It was a creative use of the situation which tied the series up with a nice bow. Sure, its basic and the big surprise of the movie was ruined in the trailers, but this is one of the reasons I tend to avoid them. Its simple, but gives the originals enough of a twist to become different and have a creative angle on a series that’s been drawn out for many years.

What really lets the movie down is the visual FX and CGI. On the Terminators themselves, it was fairly good but it tried to hard to use visual effects similar to that of the originals as some sort of fan service but it looks so blunt and disjointed amongst other good examples in the same scene! The way people fly off a rolling car isn’t like a ragdoll, its more like a still being slid along the screen in animation closer to SNES Mario. Its as if one of the artists was being fired and just fucked with everything he could while the better in the group simply continued with everything they had without even a look to see just how bad some of it was.

Perhaps it was fan service, but the fan service I enjoyed was Arnie. Who doesn’t love the man? He’s a power house on and off screen, his acting is pretty poor which aids the whole robot thing and he’s been given an element of humour to him rather than cold blooded killer we’ve seen before. Although not along the lines of the original but an enjoyable take nonetheless. As for the rest of them, meh. Emilia Clarke is a woman I’ve had little contact with in my consumption, her role in Game of Thrones seems to be the driving force behind her but her performance in this doesn’t give me hope for when I eventually get around to watching GoT. Die Hard’s Jai Courtney is another that suggests poor things about his other pieces of work and I’m extremely disappointed by Jason Clarke. His role in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was a solid performance which put him onto my watch list, this is just weak and lacklustre. As the dominant villain, he should have been far darker and twisted to really suggest his power and ability.

Visually poor, acting was fairly flat and the story wasn’t half bad. It is a popcorn movie and it always has been, I won’t lie, but I can’t see how the reincarnation of Jurassic Park using exactly the same basics of big bad dino, stupid people making a park and annoying children can be deemed as a good movie for the previous incarnations while Terminator is slated for daring to change the formula and wrap up its loose ends. I enjoyed it. Its funny, some great action scenes and a rather interesting take on the past.

For me, its a 7/10

OVERALL SCORE – 5.5/10

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Quicky Review – SPOILERS

Planet of the Apes has been a formula that almost every child in the last 40-50 years has experienced through its multiple variations and TV appearances. The most recent version (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) was such a success, it warranted a sequel to detail the aftermath of the uprising and virus. With the release of the trailer, it was obvious that Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was going to be a fantastic movie. Removing James Franco from the picture just made it that much better.

If you missed out on the Rise of the Planet of the Apes, please educate yourself on the wonderful movie. Since the events of Rise, humanity has all but dwindled. Cities have become overgrown, shells of cars litter the road all because of the deadly disease created by those who tested on the very apes that rebelled and escaped. In this time, we begin by following the apes on a hunting expedition for food. Witnessing the brutal efficiency of the group as they leap from tree to tree and lead an assault on a herd of deer with wooden weaponry and pure strength and agility was amazing to see. Following their conversations, it appears that humans haven’t been seen by the colony of apes in almost 5 years. Only days later do they find out this is not true with the arrival of a small team on their way to a dam to help power their encampment within the city. Without ruining much, the colonies must learn to stay away from each others territory but the humans need for power leads to an uneasy alliance which brews hatred from both sides that eventually boils over.

The story is strong, no doubt about it. What makes it better is the character development. With it not being reserved for just the main characters, other members get some great character development. The best is for the apes. You can find yourself connecting with them a lot more. Maurice is an amazing character that really is only an extra in many shots but he becomes a very loveable creature. With the reduced emotional display (compared to humans), the apes convey the emotions a lot better thus making them more appealing. The only problem I did have with this was that a fair few scenes were cut from the movie. Interactions that would have only strengthened the bonds and give a little more context to certain moments. For instance, the lead Malcolm (Jason Clarke) somehow finds out Caeser’s name yet we missed quite a vital point of trust between these two characters.

I praised Transformers 4 on its excellent CGI work. However, it did feel like it was stuck onto the screen. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was stunning. At parts you couldn’t even tell if the horses were real or not. Caeser can only be described as real. With Andy Serkis acting as him, the movement was fluid and lifelike. The acting in general was very good. Although my opinion of Gary Oldman has swayed in recent months, his acting was solid and with the rest of the main cast interacting with baby apes that are probably not there but with actors decked out in Lycra, with little bobbles is probably one hell of a funny sight to see.

Wrapping up, the movie is a masterpiece. Stepping away from the Sci-fi aspect, Dawn becomes more of a thriller and can be really tense, exhilarating and touching in a matter of minutes. Removing scenes was a shame but I hope the DVD will include a directors cut that will feature it and really prolong the life of this movie and give me more from a movie that I really love. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes deserves a 9/10. I would be back at the cinema watching it again if I could!