Review - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

In Rise of the Planet of the Apes – the surprisingly good 2011 reboot of the classic sci-fi franchise – we met Caesar, a super smart lab chimp contemplating his place in a human world that would keep him caged up. In Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – the excellent new sequel which delivers high blockbuster thrills in a story with the dramatic scope of a Shakespearean tragedy – Caesar is older and a bit wiser, but still has a lot to learn about the cruel subtleties of trust and leadership.

Picking up ten years after the events of Rise, Dawn finds humankind all but extinct due to a pandemic outbreak of the same man-made virus that blessed Caesar (Andy Serkis) with heightened intelligence in the first place. Conversely, he and his posse of escaped simian brethren have since flourished into a thriving ape community in the temperate rainforest of northern California, with any humans happily out of sight and out of mind.