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THIS WEEK Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 3D (12A) 10:30, 14:30, 18:00, 20:50 Earth to Echo (PG) 10:00, 12:15, 14:30, 16:45, 19:00, 21:15 How to Train Your Dragon 2 3D (U) 10:15, 13:00, 16:00 Transformers: Age of Extinction (PG) 10:00, 14:00, 17:30, 21:00 22 Jump Street (15) 18:40, 21:15 Maleficent (PG) 14:00, 16:20, 18:45, 21:10 The Fault in Our Stars (12A) 10:00, 15:30, 18:25, 21:15 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 22 Jump Street (15) 14:05, 16:25, 18:45, 21:00, 23:20 The House of Magic 3D (U) 14:20, 16:15, 18:30, 20:45, 22:40 Tammy (15) 14:15, 16:20, 18:40, 21:15, 23:25 Earth to Echo (PG) 14:20, 16:25, 18:50, 21:05, 23:15 Mrs. Brown's Boys D'Movie (12) 14:10, 16:25, 18:50, 21:10, 23:15 Transformers: Age of Extinction 3D (12A) 14:15 How to Train Your Dragon 2 (U) 14:05, 16:20, 18:35, 20:45 The Fault in Our Stars (12A) 14:30, 18:10, 20:50, 23:25 Chef (15) 14:00 The Past (12A) 14:30, 18:10, 20:50, 23:30 Blended (12A) 14:00, 16:20, 18:45, 21:10, 23:40 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 3D (12A) 14:30, 18:20, 21:05, 23:50 Hercules 3D (PG) 18:50, 21:15 Maleficent (PG) 14:15, 16:30, 18:40, 20:50, 23:05 Transformers: Age of Extinction (12A) 17:55, 21:15, 22:55 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 Transformers: Age of Extinction 3D (12A) 20:55 Transformers: Age of Extinction (12A) 10:50, 14:00, 17:45 Earth to Echo (PG) 11:00, 13:45, 15:50, 18:05, 20:50 Maleficent 3D (PG) 15:50, 20:45 How to Train Your Dragon 2 (U) 10:45, 13:35, 18:00 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 3D (12A) 10:45, 13:30. 16:05, 18:45, 21:25 WE should really count our sil- ver screen blessings in this day and age, when the received – and repeatedly drummed-through – wisdom insists on reminding us that most mainstream films are targeted squarely at children and young adults, and that any quality and artistry being practised in the audio-visual medium is migrating almost entirely to cable television. The fact is that the received wis- dom tends to be true for the most part, as comic book adaptations and their young-adult-novel coun- terparts (see: Hunger Games, Di- vergent) tend to soak up anything truly novel and original, relying heavily on in-built audiences and safe formulas. This appeared to be the case with Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) which, much like JJ Abrams's slick Star Trek re-imagining, set out to reboot the Planet of the Apes fran- chise with a sort-of prequel to the classic Charlton Heston simian dystopia. All the toxic ingredients ap- peared to be lined up and in place. 'Rise' was piggybacking on a rec- ognised (and therefore bankable) franchise, it employed a star – mo- tion-capture master Andy 'Gollum' Serkis – to the thing he does best yet again, and top it all off it came with a fashionably 'gritty' wash. But instead of turning out to be a by-the-numbers cash cow, ROTPOTA (lovely acronym, isn't it?) was a cleverly stripped down and thrilling update of the 'Apes' franchise, making it familiar to a younger audience by re-jigging the franchise through what was essen- tially a Frankenstein narrative. Cloverfield (2008) and Let Me In (2010) director Matt Reeves steps into the shoes vacated by Rupert Wyatt, who opted not to return to the franchise after helming 'Rise'. The jump in quality may be down to factors other than just a change in director, but the second instal- ment emerges as the stronger of the two. Taking a chronological leap forward to establish a world ravaged by plague – with the hu- man race said to be largely eradi- cated and bereft of a source of electricity – the new chapter of the story sees Caesar (Serkis) now ef- fectively crowned king of an ape settlement ensconced deep in the woods. But their peace is shattered when a human expedition led by Mal- colm (Jason Clarke) accidentally stumbles across the settlement, with nervous and trigger-happy Carver (Kirk Acevedo) es- calating the situation by shooting a young ape. Though Mal- colm manages to secure a pre- carious truce with Caesar and his settle- ment – on con- dition that the humans don't return to ape ter- ritory – the erstwhile leader of the human survivors, Dreyfus (Gary Oldman) insists that they go back and finish what they started: get- ting a disused dam back in action so that their city could once again have a power supply. Steeling himself for a potentially hostile rebuke, Malcolm heads back to the ape settlement with his girl- friend Ellie (Keri Russell) and son Alexander (Kodi Smit-McPhee) in tow. Meanwhile, all this negotiat- ing with humans has put Caesar in something of a precarious political position: with the vindictive Koba (Toby Kebbell) bristling at the idea of compromising with the species that had tortured him in laborato- ries in the past. This set-up should ensure that the plot simmers to a satisfying boil, and the screenplay by Mark Bomback, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver is, thankfully, a beat-perfect one. Clearly identifying the good apples from the bad ones in both the human and the ape camp, it gives us characters to root for and care about, while the tension builds in parallel, leaving us to relish the (inevitably) action-packed climax. But what pushes this particular installment out of box-ticking, low- est-common-denominator block- buster rut is Reeves' strong visual style and attention to detail. We'll get to the apes themselves in a bit (they truly are a wonder to behold), but it's worth noting how Reeves goes the extra mile visually. A chi- aroscuro hybrid world is estab- lished from the word go, as the humans are made to live in what is es- sentially a ramshackle squat, where nature is already making a slow but steady move to reclaim the land- scape. By contrast, the apes live in a harmonious communal space, but one free from the kitschy rural idyll of typical sci-fi forests, as seen in Avatar (2009) and the like. But crucially, this is also a film with heart. It also gives weight to the cliché that the eyes are, in fact, the window to the soul – and ex- ploits this fact with aplomb when rendering the motion-captured apes. It may be difficult to quan- tify, exactly, where the CGI stops and the 'real' acting begins, but a human touch is clearly evident. Serkis once again excels as Caesar. Much like the rest of the film, he is a bit of a humourless, almost dour presence, but what he's meant to do, he does well: power, righteous anger, gravitas and – ultimately – pain. The team also mercifully moves away from chest-thumping clichés to convey ape-to-ape communica- tion, instead opting for delicate hand gestures, subtitled for our convenience. The fact that our sympathies are calibrated towards the apes is neither original nor surprising, but the sterling CGI work, and Reeves's efforts to create an immersive world ensures that we're emotionally connected to the story at every level. It's probably unwise to overstate the worth of its internal 'message' – like the aforementioned Avatar, it says pretty much the same things about endemic conflict as, say, Pocahontas did. But it's not just about the story, it's also about how it's told. Given that Reeves is riffing off established material, it's to his credit that every element of this ape vs man allegory both convinces and entertains. maltatoday, SUNDAY, 27 JULY 2014 35 FILM IN CINEMAS TODAY By Teodor Reljic Who's the savage now? THIS WEEK ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ GORILLAS IN THE MIST ★ ★ ★ ★ DONKEY KONG ★ ★ ★ MONKEY BUSINESS ★ ★ DAMN DIRTY APES ★ SAD SIMIAN You've just messed with the wrong ape: Caesar (Andy Serkis) must protect his family – and his tribe – from imminent slaughter in this sequel-to-a-prequel DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (12) ★ ★ ★ ★