Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Cast: Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell and Terry Notary

Director: Matt Reeves

Release Date: 2014

Running Time: 2hrs 10 minutes

Genre: Action

Rating: 12

Synopsis:

A growing army of genetically intelligent apes led by Caesar are threatened by a group of human survivors, of a devastating virus that was unleashed a decade before. 

A decade has passed since the events that first took place in "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", the planet is now at war with dominating apes. Set in 2026, humans are dying of a deadly virus known as Simian Flu, affecting up to 150,000,000 people. A virus that is thought to have spread through the ALZ-112 drug that was originally given to a chimpanzee Bright Eyes. Caesar and his army of apes now dominate the world with only a few human survivors remaining. Humans must now do everything they can to keep peace and survive. The idea of apes ruling the world is a pretty terrifying prospect. It takes us back to essentially, the beginning of time, when humans first evolved.

The storyline is exceptionally dark, although the original films were excellent due to real people playing apes, the CGI makes it miraculously genuine and terrifyingly convincing. Humans are now at the bottom of the food chain, ruled by apes. The apes are not only at war with humans in fighting for survival but at war with themselves. Although the storyline has been brilliantly written, the decision to leave out subtitles during the apes conversations with each other, sadly allow audiences to get lost in the loop of communication. Understanding what was being said really would of given a sense of fear and suspense. It does however add a sense of mystery too, which builds a decent amount of suspense up as the story unfolds.

Jason Clarke unfortunately delivers a very unconvincing performance as Malcolm. The understanding that himself and others have lost their families to this awful virus, don't seem to be on the verge of survival but more an understanding as time has passed by. Despite a decade passing, the film sadly doesn't explain what has happened between the events that first took place in the first film. How is it that they are the only remaining survivors? How are they genetically immune? Almost as if a piece of the puzzle is missing. Hopefully the next film with have a few more answers. Sadly we don't see much from the other characters or an understanding of their background. A little bit disappointing and sadly nowhere near as exciting as the first.

2.5/5 stars