Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) Review – Exploring the Past

TL;DR – It is a profoundly emotional work that builds on the first film in nearly every way.   

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this film.

Caesar in war paint.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Review –

It has been ten years since this movie first came out, and I was taken aback by just how good visual effects had grown, even by the high standards that the Lord of the Rings brought us. But with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes coming out this week, I wanted to take a moment to go back in time and see how well this second entry before War of the Planet of the Apes holds up.

So to set the scene, it has been ten years since the Simian Flu pandemic spread across the globe with a survival rate of only 1 in 500, as was seen at the end of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. As human society completely collapsed, the ape colony founded by Caesar (Andy Serkis) began to thrive in the growing woods outside of what was once San Francisco. It has been two years since they even saw a human, which made that first sound of a gun going off echo throughout the colony. One of the few human settlements left on the Earth has set up shop in the ruins of San Francisco. Caesar does not acquiesce to the drum beats of war but gives the humans an ultimatum: stay away from their area. Peace has a chance, just as long as no one on either side decides to fall on the animosity of the past.     

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Movie Review – War of the Planet of the Apes

TL;DR – Apes Together Strong

Score – 5 out of 5 stars

War of the Planets of the Apes. Image Credit: 20th Century Fox.

War of the Planet of the Apes Review

Film trilogies are very precarious things to manage because you have to keep each film working in its own right, but also place it in the context of a greater series. This can lead to all sorts of issues, like power creep when you have to keep upping the last film into ridiculousness, or different creators can come in and you have to balance their views with what is already established, there are studio and contract pressures. All of this can lead to the very common third film fail where things just fall apart, like the X-Men films for example. So given how strong the Planet of the Apes films have been, especially given that they are reboots, I was concerned that they would not be able to stick the landing with the third film. But I was wrong, and I am so happy that I was.

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