The opening scene of Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes is one of the best openings to a movie of all time

Since Dawn takes place 10 years after Rise, this scene sort of acts to fill in the blanks of what happens, especially since the first one ended on such a cliffhanger. And it does this in an incredibly effective and haunting way; by showing us the news and media footage of the events as they happen.

If you can't remember, this scene shows humanity trying to fight, but ultimately failing to stop a global virus. The humans who don't die by the virus die in riots (sound familiar?).

It starts with a visual representation of the virus' across the globe. With the red dots symbolising an infected person, we can clearly see the spread of the virus across the planet (like plague inc). This is used in conjunction with news and media footage that the people would've seen as the virus spread. This allows us to essentially experience the spread of the disease with the humans in the movie.

Its truly disturbing as we see the gradual loss of control humanity has and it's increasing desperation. We hear people screaming, babies crying, and reporters giving increasingly grim news. With the use of the audio and footage makes is horrifyingly realistic (they even use footage of Obama). Once the virus stops spreading, the red dots begin to turn off, representing the overwhelming death humanity is experiencing. The final reporter gives the scary and grim message "those who aren't killed by the virus, will probably die in a fighting. So maybe this is it. This is how it ends. Pretty soon, there won't be anyone left."

By the end of that audio from the reporter, the last of the red lights go out, leaving the world as a dark, lifeless planet.

The music in this scene is haunting. Michael Giacchino's score is masterful. It really emphasises the hopelessness of the situation. (Really his score in the whole trilogy is phenomenal).

Right now I can't think of an opening that better establishes the dystopian tone and themes for the rest of the movie. While I think the opening of the third movie is amazing, it isn't quite as intelligent and weirdly beautiful as this scene.

Submitted June 28, 2020 at 09:21PM by StaunchYapper40 https://ift.tt/2CQ1XMD