It's a testament to the quality of this film that you soon forget what a technical marvel these ape characters are and become much more focussed on the story. Caesar, once again, is at the forefront of this film, and the exploration of the ape community is fascinating to watch. Yet rather than simply focus on Caesar, Reeves is more interested in showing the fragility of peace between the human and ape communities, the distrust and hatred that can develop between two opposing factions and how easy such emotions can tear down any attempts to bring an end to hostilities. It's as relevant an issue that you could find to explore in modern society and it works wonderfully well here. Although the human characters are not as well developed, Reeves doesn't rush the story and the tentative steps to building trust between the two "families" in the opening half are beautifully played and help to ensure that the audience has some investment in both sides when all hell breaks loose. And whilst there are no real surprises in where the story is going, it is this focus on the characters like the previous film that help to make the action sequences tense and exciting to watch, even if the finale strays a little into CGI overload.

1 Original film series 1.1 Planet of the Apes (1968) https://trakt.tv/movies/planet-of-the-apes-1968 1.2 Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) https://trakt.tv/movies/beneath-the-planet-of-the-apes-1970 1.3 Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) https://trakt.tv/movies/escape-from-the-planet-of-the-apes-1971 1.4 Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) https://trakt.tv/movies/conquest-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-1972 1.5 Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) https://trakt.tv/movies/battle-for-the-planet-of-the-apes-1973 2 Remake film 2.1 Planet of the Apes (2001) https://trakt.tv/movies/planet-of-the-apes-2001 3 Reboot film series 3.1 Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) https://trakt.tv/movies/rise-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-2011 3.2 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) https://trakt.tv/movies/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-2014 3.3 War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) https://trakt.tv/movies/war-for-the-planet-of-the-apes-2017

Weird that I hadn't rewatched this movie since I saw it in theaters. I prefer "Rise" much more, I feel like there is a more emotional side to it and also has the build-up of the apes breaking out. Something was missing for me on this one. I still find it a good movie, it looks amazing and it was great to see Gary Oldman.

This is how big budget action thrillers were meant to be. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes juggles interesting ideas, a great storyline and lovely cinematic techniques. It's also gripping throughout.

There was a lot of hype about this movie when it was first released. But I avoided it because of how much I liked "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" (4.5 out of 5 score). And sadly, I was correct in my assessment that it probably would not live up to my own expectations. "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" was disappointing. It's really nothing more than a simple commentary on race. Not everyone is the same, regardless of outward appearances...gee, thanks for the revelation. The movie also carries a strong anti-gun message, but I still noticed that when the guns were not in the hands of an ape or a man, they didn't kill anyone. The only reason I rated this as good was because of the amazing special effect when live actors interacted with the CGI apes. When the apes were in the same shots as the live actors, it was nearly seamless. When the apes appeared on-screen alone they looked cartoony, Caesar's eyes being the exception.