DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES takes place 10 years after RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES where humankind has been decimated by the simian flu.  Caesar and his fellow apes have built a home for themselves and they haven’t seen a human for two years and they wonder if the humans have killed each other off until they encounter a group of humans searching for the hydroelectric dam that they want to use to bring power back to San Francisco.   It starts a conflict between humans and apes that Caesar and a human called Malcolm (Jason Clarke) want to avoid, but others like Koba (an ape) want to ignite war.   The leader of the human settlement, Dreyfus (played by Gary Oldman who hams it up), wants the power to contact other humans and he is willing to destroy the apes to get the power back on, but he allows a mission into ape territory to get the power back on.  Meanwhile, Koba (the really goddamn ugly dirty ape) scouts the human settlement and sees the human stockpile of weapons as a means to an end in his own bid for power thinking Caesar is too soft for the humans.

 

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is a solid follow up film as you see the story from both sides as each side has their reason to hope and to fear.   In history, we have sought out peace only to have the fear of others tear down that sought after peace.  They want to protect their families while Koba thinks only for himself based on fear (and later a need for power).  You see an ape culture and ape life seen through this sequel in addition to wisely holding back the moments when the apes talk in English where they save a lot of the ape communications for sign language or by moment and expression.  You have the conflict between Caesar and his son which has a nice arc throughout the film while you see the human wanting a good future for his son (so he doesn’t have to see the things that he witnessed during the fall of civilization due to the simian flu pandemic). Sometimes the movie takes a backdoor to the humans and really focuses on the apes.  Malcolm and his second wife Elle (Keri Russell) and Malcolm’s teenage son wander through the movie as they react to their situation and the apes most of the time because Andy Serkis is the real star here in his motion capture performance of Caesar.   Matt Reeves delivers another great directorial job where the apes are better developed than the humans as some of the humans become pretty much generic stock clichés.  However, I do think this movie deserves a second viewing to examine the human and ape characters more.

 

I wonder where they will take the next sequel (which is tentatively set for July 29, 2016) and whether it is going to be titled PLANET OF THE APES or WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES or CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES or even BATTLE FOR BATTLE OF THE APES.   Once war begins, neither side probably won’t easily forgive and humans are also guided by their fear of apes due to the simian flu created from the drug testing on apes in the first film.    I also wonder if they will or when they will tie into the nice nod to the original PLANET OF THE APES in a moment mentioned in the end credits for RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES.

 

This review is ©7-13-2014 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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