Movies like Dawn of the Planet of the Apes , Godzilla , and Transformers: Age of Extinction prove you don’t need people. Well, not when you have talking primates, giant monsters, and robot aliens.
Caesar arms up in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
After kicking off with a heartwarming montage that indicates a plague has wiped out most of mankind, the newly-released Dawn of the Planet of the Apes picks up not with its human survivors but with the intelligent primates, who've set up an idyllic pan-simian community out in the woods. Meanwhile, this summer's Transformers: Age of Extinction cheerily soldiers on without Shia LaBeouf's Sam Witwicky, the main character of the first three films, giving his absence nary a mention (not even from his bestie Bumblebee) as he's replaced with a new lead Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg). And though Godzilla has an ensemble cast, the people in its story largely got in the way of what was really a battle between giant monsters who barely noticed the ant-like beings scuttling at their feet, frantically trying to avoid getting squished.
Though this string of summer blockbusters still features traditional big names (Wahlberg) as well as some more offbeat choices (Godzilla's graced by French icon Juliette Binoche, while Apes has Aussie up-and-comer Jason Clarke), they all play second fiddle to their non-human co-stars, visual effects, motion capture, and vocal performances, all of which come across as just as real as the people in the frame...and usually a lot more interesting. Technologically, we've certainly reached a point where a film can be primarily trusted to a creation like Apes' Caesar, performed by Andy Serkis (who also consulted on Godzilla) — the enhanced chimp has an arc more dramatic and soulful than any of the human cast members. In all, the movies have never felt so indifferent to humanity.
Transformers: Age of Extinction
Industrial Light/Paramount Pictures
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