Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Review: The second entry is even more epic than the first. The special effects take a huge leap forward from what was already great (and the baby ape is like one of the cutest things ever). The opening scene of having the apes hunting and then the bear attack was just such a cool way to start. I want to give huge props to Toby Kebbell who played Koba, who was one of the standouts here. Koba’s story felt unfinished in the first movie so the payoff here was exquisite. I also loved the scenes where he acts all goofy and silly to trick the humans. The final fight between Caesar and Koba is a fantastic climax, Caesar’s jump down to tackle Koba was so sick, and all the lines from Caesar were so good. ‘Koba weaker,’ ‘Koba fight for Koba,’ and ‘Koba belong in cage.’ Such good comebacks.

High: Andy Serkis. The development of Caesar from the first film was crazy. He went from rebel up start leader to King (or Caesar). The way he commands the other apes with the raise of the hand. Where he just stands up straight and Koba backs down. We’ve just seen him become this incredible leader.

Low: While the human cast of Jason Clarke, Keri Russell, & Kodi Smit-McPhee are all pretty good (especially Clarke) the humans are the least interesting parts of these movies and that’s okay. But if you’re going to cast an actor like Gary Oldman you really need to use him, and I feel like he was underused. His character did really go out with a bang though.

Rating: 9/10