Michael Giacchino captures the bleak and gritty determination of Matt Reeves’ Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes expertly with his intensely emotional score, as a surging main theme for Caesar and the apes leads a dramatic charge throughout atop Goldsmith-inspired orchestra.
The music of the Planet Of The Apes franchise has always been in safe compositional hands. From the iconically unsettling sound of Jerry Goldsmith’s music for the original 1968 film all the way up to John Paesano’s stylish work for latest entry Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes, all the Apes albums really have been intriguing in their own standout ways. That said while I do enjoy them all – can’t get enough of the wackily percussive “Human Hunt” for one – I am perhaps a bit controversial for the following opinion (I’m sorry, Jerry); for me personally, Michael Giacchino’s sorrowfully determined style for Matt Reeves’ Dawn and War entries in the Apes franchise has always got the most replays, and the reason why comes down to one word; themes.
Dawn‘s themes are shown best through Standout Cue “Planet Of The End Credits”, which opens with that unsettlingly eerie percussive sound that Goldsmith utilised for the original film (immediately setting a very Apes-y tone) before quieting as a solemn piano starts to plink away. A rather serene mood slowly emerges from this, with high-pitched strings and choir then echoing an aptly mournful theme to represent the spread of the Simian Flu and the resulting fall of mankind. After a particularly emotional crescendo, a sudden burst of brass then ushers in the next of Giacchino’s themes; the apes action motif. Marching rapidly atop said brass, chanting vocals and fast-paced, tribal-styled percussion, this tensely repeating motif commands your attention for several thunderous minutes before more hopeful strings and vocals start to swirl, hinting toward another theme to be revealed later in the suite. With a loud crescendo once again switching things up, the music then settles into quiet pensivity as solemn piano notes and similarly thoughtful strings take centre stage for the film’s main theme. An absolutely beautiful piece overall, it doesn’t stay down for long here as soaring vocals and orchestra elevate it to spectacular heights, cementing both its versatility and memorability while perfectly capturing the struggle and determination of Caesar and the ape society in the film. To hammer this point home, the swirling motif of earlier then returns to crescendo in intensely triumphant style, with pounding drums then crashing this genuinely phenomenal suite out shortly afterward.
The score begins proper with “Level Plaguing Field” (I love how even with bleaker scores like this, Giacchino still gets the punny jokes in) which opens with a solemn piano and equally morose, high-pitched strings playing the Simian Flu motif. As the dramatically downtrodden cue continues some similarly sorrowful vocals also join the fray, echoing said theme until a sudden wary burst of Goldsmith-styled strings closes the track. The subsequent “Look Who’s Stalking” then continues in a similarly ominous vein, with percussive thuds much akin to Goldsmith’s chaotic 1968 score echoing against high-pitched, horror-like strings and vocals before the mood turns quieter and more reflective in the first minute of “The Great Ape Processional”. Slowly though strings start to build up towards louder, more hopeful orchestra, with a tremendously grandiose burst of the main Dawn theme then soaring free. After a short period of percussive ambience, the main theme then plays lightly on tranquil piano notes to end the four and half minute cue. Low brass, serene strings and piano then occupy “Past Their Primates”, reprising the main theme in a now much more reserved and gentle manner before high-pitched orchestral tension suddenly retakes the reins in “Close Encounters Of The Furred Kind”; echoingly ominous drums and eerie strings are prevalent here with further references towards Goldsmith’s unsettling 1968 sound through the first half, until frenetic flurries of brass start to overtake with the apes action motif in centre stage.
A moodier rendition of the apes action motif lurks alongside Goldsmith-styled percussive hits through “Monkey To The City”, with wary brassy atmosphere then occupying the first few minutes of “The Lost City Of Chimpanzee” until a shrill vocal crescendo drowns it out. The mournful Simian Flu motif then returns on plucking strings and plinking piano in the first half of “Along Simian Lines”, with a brief excerpt of the main theme following before the Goldsmith-esque percussion reprises alongside the apes action motif to seed further growing tension until cue’s end. High-pitched, ominous ambience then occupies the two minute “Caesar No Evil, Hear No Evil” before tremendous thuds of imposing drums open “Monkey See, Monkey Coup”; these settle quickly with a hopeful rendition of the main theme echoing through on serene strings and piano, but the tension doesn’t stay gone for long as a dramatic percussive crescendo then rapidly overtakes with bursts of aggressive brass ushering the apes action motif back in for the rest of the now deafeningly in-your-face track. Action setpiece “Gorilla Warfare” (nice) then continues where it leaves off, with the apes action motif leading a thunderously chaotic charge atop frantic strings, shrill vocals, angry brass and pounding drums with the occasional worrisome interspersal of the main theme, overall resulting in seven minutes of pure orchestral mania.
The main theme plinks solemnly on light and deeply downtrodden strings at the start of “The Apes Of Wrath” before the chaotic brass and Goldsmithian percussion of earlier drowns it out, with “Gibbon Take” afterward continuing in a similarly abrasive and ominous vein with high-pitched strings. Small hints toward hope then start to stir in “Aped Crusaders” with quiet piano and strings alluding to the softer side of the main theme, before “How Bonobo Can You Go” then slinks back into further atmosphere focused on Goldsmith-inspired drums and eerily high-pitched strings for much of its runtime until a deafening brassy crescendo closes it out. The frantic “Enough Monkeying Around” is then the standout action moment of the score, as Giacchino unleashes some absolutely fantastic orchestral work with pounding brass, intense vocals and anxious strings all vying for dominance. The apes action motif receives excellent workouts in the first half, with hints toward a tense main theme and the Simian Flu theme also getting dramatic treatment in the second. Final film cue “Primates For Life” then breathes a sigh of relief with slower, gentler strings in its first two minutes before building up to a tremendously victorious rendition of the main theme held high by blasting orchestra, and if it wasn’t for the phenomenal end credits suite this would be the highlight of the album – that’s how breathtaking it is.
Overall, I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Michael Giacchino’s Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, particularly its main theme. Introduced in “The Great Ape Processional”, this dramatically versatile motif manages to not only perfectly capture the unending determination and grit of Caesar and his ape society in the film, but is also memorable to the point where its soaring renditions through the standout “Primates For Life” and “Planet Of The End Credits” are still among my most listened to film music. Dawn doesn’t stop there with its memorable themes either, with an aptly downtrodden piece for the Simian Flu (“Level Plaguing Field”) and an emphatically in-your-face apes action motif (“Gorilla Warfare”) contributing just as effectively to the film’s fortitudinal story and making for some excellent album moments as a result. The orchestral style naturally also aids this, with the composer’s keen attention to detail – from quiet strings and reflective piano all the way up to pounding drums and soaring brass – being an absolute highlight, as is the inclusion of many a chaotically-styled percussive hint towards Jerry Goldsmith’s iconic original Planet Of The Apes. All-in I think pretty highly of this soundtrack, and if it wasn’t for the lengthy monkeying about with moody ambience in the second half (before the music finally recovers with the aptly titled and rather epic action finale “Enough Monkeying Around”), for me this would be up there as one of Giacchino’s best scores.
And War For The Planet Of The Apes is pretty great too. Review incoming… at some point.
Score: 7.5/10
Standout Cues: Primates For Life, Planet Of The End Credits
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