MovieChat Forums > Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) Discussion > My suspension of disbelief only goes so ...

My suspension of disbelief only goes so far


OK, let's forget for a moment that this is the THIRD movie in the last 5 years with the exact same plot (evil leader wants his non-human race to thrive at the expense of humans, only to be defeated by one of his own kind -- the other two movies are Transformers ROTF and Man of Steel).

I almost stopped watching this when the guy was explaining how to operate a dam to a *beep* APE!! Thanks goodness I didn't, because there was more to come.

The apes learn English, math and ASL in one fell swoop. I know HUMANS who couldn't learn all 3 (given English is a foreign language) at once.

Then, there's my favorite part of the movie. An army of apes on horseback wielding TWO machine guns each!!! That was tragicomic. How can they balance on a horseback without a saddle and nothing to hold onto wielding TWO machine guns?? And I suppose they learned how to operate the safety lock, change out magazines, and deal with the insane recoil from spraying bullets (even army soldiers try to avoid it), right??

Please don't get me wrong, I love popcorn movies with car chases, big explosions, etc. but this was ridiculous. I really enjoyed the 2011 release, but this was terrible.

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ape legs are pretty good at holding onto stuff
did it really look like they were that good at using those guns? no they just ran around shooting at stuff in a spray and pray fashion.
and they never showed them change magazines, they just picked new guns up.

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Doesnt matter when those legs are short... and btw on what should they hold onto?

Id image apes, like chimps, riding a horse differently too. Since they have handy feet ^^ and are used to balance out their body, theyd probably have their feet on the horse back (the withers is good for holding onto... saddles do so), hunker down for balancing and also hold onto the mane with one hand.
A human has too long legs and too useless feet for that.

Ive once ridden a large fat horse bareback and my legs where only half as useful for holding onto the horse... also fur like theirs is smooth and slick. You need your weight as well to have your arse remaining well seated. And you need an arse ^^

Those short legged apes sitting on a horse like a human, without a saddle on top of it with two guns is more than just ridiculous.

---
Lincoln Lee: I lost a partner.
Peter Bishop: I lost a universe!

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[deleted]

Maybe twenty years ago Ive seen them all. How many years passed between this one and that one? 500?
And whats your point?

---
Lincoln Lee: I lost a partner.
Peter Bishop: I lost a universe!

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[deleted]

Well, humans have to play the apes after all. And what would one expect from old movies that didn't even know CGI yet? Also in the old days one may believe things easier than today. And between this movie and the old one may have passed 500, 1000 or more years... and the apes surely evolved further and their legs grew longer... I think the apes in the old movies do indeed have longer legs? ---Lincoln Lee: I lost a partner.Peter Bishop: I lost a universe!

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Dude, did you watch the first movie? Thanks to the formula created by the evil lab the apes are much smarter than an actual animal.

It's been stated that 10 years have passed between movies. Enough time for said smart apes learn a few tricks and words.

About the dam explanation, it's pretty clear that the apes didn't get it all, hence why Ceasar just says "lights", as some kind of summary to all the BS the protagonist said (a pretty comic moment, actually, because the audience is as clueless as Ceasar and the apes).

As for the horse ride, like the person above said, they are used to use their feet to keep balance, that's why they can jump through vines and $hit with so much accuracy.

Finally, I don't think they ever changed ammo, they just shot the $hit out of the gun and then searched for another one. The recoil made the apes shoot like crazy blind men, hence why they almost got no one and their guns are almost always pointed to the skies while firing. The safety lock was proabably a try-and-error thing. When they arrived at the armory, they probably played with the guns until they finally learned how to trigger it.

English is not my primary language, but at least I speak more than you.

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[deleted]

And lucky for them, the humans decided that the best place to keep guns when under threat of an invasion is outside of their secure perimeter, in an unlocked and unguarded building. That way, if the apes attacked and reached the gates, the humans wouldn't be able to access the guns even if the apes didn't care about them. Brilliant planning.

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[deleted]

Hey, to prevent sabotage at Pearl Harbor, some brainiac came up with the idea of crowding all the fighter and other planes in one spot to be guarded and we know how well that worked when the first plane hit by a Japanese bomb started a chain reaction of exploding aircraft. So yea humans are that stupid.

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Yeah I thought it was strange that they kept the armory outside the secured area, with just a couple people guarding it. You'd think they'd also want to prepare in case there were other humans alive who had formed more of a tribe than a civilization.

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[deleted]

Ok, so I missed a relatively minor detail, it's not like they spent a lot of time on that. No need to be rude.

How many were there then? I didn't think there were many. Five or six?

Anyway, my biggest point was that it wasn't within the main walls, which I thought was weird.

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If we want to go this way, you might wonder why they wasted good amo shooting at bugger all when obviously, they could not make any more bullets. But hey… We've seen sooooo much worse in recent movies ! (Actually, I liked the first half better than the shoot-the-crap, let's-go-all-emotional second…)

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[deleted]

Another pointless random (bi*ching) thread.

You are watching movie titled "Planet of the Apes" and your complaint is "how they are wielding two handed machinegun and riding a horse"? O.o

I mean, seriously? Will you complain that there are apes in next "Planet of the APES" movie?

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I will agree that the apes, who had probably never seen a gun just hours before, could never have overun the humans who had clearly been practicing. Even if they hadn't I just dont buy the Apes could be that accurate with the way they were holding the guns, and then you got to figure that the humans were on higher ground. They would have got mowed down with little effort

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Dude, did you watch the first movie? Thanks to the formula created by the evil lab the apes are much smarter than an actual animal.

It's been stated that 10 years have passed between movies. Enough time for said smart apes learn a few tricks and words.

About the dam explanation, it's pretty clear that the apes didn't get it all, hence why Ceasar just says "lights", as some kind of summary to all the BS the protagonist said (a pretty comic moment, actually, because the audience is as clueless as Ceasar and the apes).

As for the horse ride, like the person above said, they are used to use their feet to keep balance, that's why they can jump through vines and $hit with so much accuracy.

Finally, I don't think they ever changed ammo, they just shot the $hit out of the gun and then searched for another one. The recoil made the apes shoot like crazy blind men, hence why they almost got no one and their guns are almost always pointed to the skies while firing. The safety lock was proabably a try-and-error thing. When they arrived at the armory, they probably played with the guns until they finally learned how to trigger it.


^^This!

"I'm the ultimate badass,you do NOT wanna f-ck wit me!"Hudson,Aliens😬

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It says in first movie because of the drug ceaser was much smarter than a human child of same age and all the apes had been given this drug.

I've never seen a gun and am no genious but I bet you in less than 1 minute I would be able to change a clip and take off the safety its not exactly rocket science. It's not that far fetched for super intelligent apes to use sign language as in real life some apes have been taught a few words in sign. Only a few of the apes could actually speak and their vocabulary wasn't exactly extensive.

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And how do the apes carry those extra clips I wonder?

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Bags like humans, I didn't see them change or carry a clip so it's impossible to say but easily done they carried the bag the kid dropped so they could obviously carry a bag full of bullets

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They could have, but they clearly didn't in the movie. None of the apes are seen carrying a bag or extra clips.

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When they ran out of ammo, they could just hurl 5h it. I've seen them do it at the zoo.

It wasnt me, it was the other three. Hang them!

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None of them are shown reloading their weapons either. So your question is pointless.

Prof. Farnsworth: Oh. A lesson in not changing history from Mr. I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!

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I was pretty stoned and we were laughing so *beep* hard at the apes dual wielding machine guns, sniping people while on horseback charging the gate.

I had tears streaming down my face laughing so hard. My friend said "the only way it could get better is if they had tanks"...

Then the *beep* apes rolled in with tanks... *beep*

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[deleted]

[deleted]

Try watching it not stoned sometime.

The apes didn't "snipe" anybody. The apes were the ones getting sniped and blown away. Only a few humans got randomly hit.

The apes didn't "roll in with tanks." Crazy ass Koba got a hold of a tank, and it went out of control into a barricade while he was in the gun turret.



This.

"I'm the ultimate badass,you do NOT wanna f-ck wit me!"Hudson,Aliens😬

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Try watching it not stoned sometime.

The apes didn't "snipe" anybody. The apes were the ones getting sniped and blown away. Only a few humans got randomly hit.

The apes didn't "roll in with tanks." Crazy ass Koba got a hold of a tank, and it went out of control into a barricade while he was in the gun turret.
Indeed. Amazing how stuff like this completely flies over the heads of human viewers.

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The OP is proof that apes can be smarter than humans.

JGL is my boyfriend, he just doesn't know yet.

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the apes are obviously stronger at learning for whatever biological reason. and apes are strong as *beep* ever wonder how they climb trees so easily, yeah they are about as strong as like 3 guys. a ar15/m16 rifle shoots 556/223 rounds and well its just not hard to control, not much recoil. Im not strong by any means and can shoot a fully auto m16 easily with one hand, not accurately but enough to shoot stuff from 20 yards. a ape wielding 2 rifles of that caliber is wouldn't be surprising to me one bit.
Im assuming you have never owned any firearms though or seen apes in the wild

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You ever seen the size of a great ape finger? trigger guards are made for human fingers, they wouldn't have fit.
Anyway, who cares it's just mindless tosh dressed up for a mildly diverting 2 hours.





'thats the thing about the evil - their amazing work ethic'

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There was to many thing that didnt make sense , and the characters were so badley written your knew what they were going to say before it happened.




Humans keeping there guns on the outside of the colony was just silly. Theres just no logic to this.


The Humans survive a plague fighting with each other and early on see apes come in force to there home , yet there that ill prepared. Humans were dumbed down way to much.

The big battle was so stupid. Why would apes march into battle like that. It made no sense. It was like playing a video game where theres things conveniently placed to win.A tank comes from no where and drives right in the middle of all the apes , how silly. The only reason for it was so the apes had somthing to ram the doors with.



The movie shoulda been titled , Dawn of the Stupid Humans. The evolution of humans and apes just didnt make sense.

Lastly , the CGI is overrated. Close up the apes looked good , but in the action sences was nothing great and the movie had a grey tone bc they didnt handle lighting very well. And who cares if the apes looked good close up , just go to the zoo i you wanna see apes.

I understand that i come off as a hater , but i really wanted to see this movie and it was just a huge let down.

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Humans keeping there guns on the outside of the colony was just silly. Theres just no logic to this.


Maybe you missed it, but there would be a very good reason. Specifically, things apparently turn to *beep* when the power goes out. When this happens you don't want all the scared people grabbing guns. That's a good way to wipe yourself out from the inside.

The Humans survive a plague fighting with each other and early on see apes come in force to there home , yet there that ill prepared. Humans were dumbed down way to much.


You type like this and you have the gall to criticize the writing in this movie? You have no place to criticising a movies writing when you don't even know the difference between there, their and they're.

When did they see apes come in force to their homes? Are you forgetting that this movie takes place 10 years after the end of the first one? For 10 years they hadn't seen intelligent apes, let alone apes capable of speech.

And I don't know what world you live in, but humans tend to get pretty irrational when we're scared.

The big battle was so stupid. Why would apes march into battle like that. It made no sense. It was like playing a video game where theres things conveniently placed to win.A tank comes from no where and drives right in the middle of all the apes , how silly. The only reason for it was so the apes had somthing to ram the doors with.


Why would apes charge into battle like that? Maybe because they've never fought like this before. They have no battle tactics. Go see how apes engage enemies in the wild. They do exactly like they do in the movie. Charge and make a lot of noise. It's about intimidation.

The tank didn't "come from nowhere." The humans used it to flank the apes. Unfortunately the apes got close enough to it to kill the people in it.

The movie shoulda been titled , Dawn of the Stupid Humans. The evolution of humans and apes just didnt make sense.


There is no evolution here. Unless you're talking about their social structures. Humans are huddled together in a one small city and are unable to contact any other humans. They act exactly like humans probably would given that situation. They're scared and they've just encountered apes who can speak.

\Lastly , the CGI is overrated. Close up the apes looked good , but in the action sences was nothing great and the movie had a grey tone bc they didnt handle lighting very well. And who cares if the apes looked good close up , just go to the zoo i you wanna see apes.


This is your lamest criticism. Why see any movie at all?

Prof. Farnsworth: Oh. A lesson in not changing history from Mr. I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!

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Why would apes charge into battle like that? Maybe because they've never fought like this before. They have no battle tactics. Go see how apes engage enemies in the wild. They do exactly like they do in the movie. Charge and make a lot of noise. It's about intimidation.


They fought like that in the first movie already.

Maybe you missed it, but there would be a very good reason. Specifically, things apparently turn to *beep* when the power goes out. When this happens you don't want all the scared people grabbing guns. That's a good way to wipe yourself out from the inside.


There is nothing to suggest that bad things happen when the lights go out. Please stop imposing your fear of the dark on this movie.

There is no evolution here. Unless you're talking about their social structures. Humans are huddled together in a one small city and are unable to contact any other humans.


Evolution is a commonly used term to describe all development especially when relevant to social theory, assuming that evolution is most commonly used in biology is very narrow minded.

Humans are huddled together in a one small city and are unable to contact any other humans. They act exactly like humans probably would given that situation. They're scared and they've just encountered apes who can speak.


Thank god they nailed down the realism of how pathetic humanity is in this talking monkey movie. That really entertained me.

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Ahhh I loved this film but agree with everything you said. The battle was stupid and unrealisitic, and it wouldn't have taken much to show the apes taking over with thier agility, like they did in the first film. Instead the brazenly charge like humans to the front door of the stronghold, they would have got slaughtered.

Still loved the film though, but got slightly bored during the last third. The strength in these films are the emotional and political tensions. the fights in this and first (althought the first wasn't that distracting), are clearly the weaker parts of the film.

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There is no species known as "Great Ape." Great ape is a genus. One that humans belong to. And there are a couple of other species under the hominidae family that could fit their fingers into a trigger guard. Chimps for example, have longer fingers, but they're relatively the same thickness. Really the only ones that couldn't would belong to the Gorilla and Orangutan families.

If you pay attention to the movie, most of the "apes" are chimps. Who could easily fit their fingers into a trigger guard.

Nice try at making yourself seem smart, though.

Prof. Farnsworth: Oh. A lesson in not changing history from Mr. I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!

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Your lack of Biologic knowledge astounds me. You shouldn't criticize others when you yourself are so wrong.

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[deleted]

You forget this is the Democrats liberal message to us that all white men are bad. Notice the lack of blacks?

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It's not supposed to be realistic, it's science fiction. Yes, things must still make sense in the set world, and it does, if you have seen the first movie of this reboot of the franchise.

-
Dziga Vertov:
I am the machine that reveals the world to you, as only I alone am able to see it

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Ohh look at this another thread where the OP disses a widely acclaimed film to try and show how good his taste in films must be. Moving on.


Film Reverie: http://filmreverie.blogspot.com.au/
My film diary: http://letterboxd.com/filmreverie/

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