Three years after "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" (billed as a reboot, but possibly a prequel to the 1968 original) did well enough at the box office and with the critics to warrant a sequel, it was well worth the wait.
"Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" picks up about five years after the first film with the genetic neurologically enhanced chimpanzee named Caesar (voice and motions of Andy Serkis, of "Lord of the Rings") living in the woods outside San Francisco. He leads other apes who were also made intelligent after being exposed to a gas form of an Alzheimer's's drug in the first. That same drug also contained a viral ingredient that has wiped out most of the human population. Only pockets of humans live in the parts of the world, including one major group in the remains of San Francisco.
An encounter with the surviving humans (led by Jason Clarke) opens the scenario of either a peaceful co-existence or a war of dominant species. Though the story is mostly predictable, it is still entertaining and intelligently done. The new film also carries the downbeat tone common in the previous apes movies (except the Tim Burton version).
**** out of five
Community on 07/24/2014