Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

   Hey action movie fans! I know it’s been awhile since my last blog,  but now I’m back and plan on bringing you previews and reviews on the latest action films.

   In theatres this weekend is the next installment of the Planet of the Apes prequel series. As a fan I was wondering if they were going to make another one of these films since the first prequel “Rise of the Planet of Apes” starring James Franco (“PineappleExpress”) came out in 2011. So it kind of makes you wonder back then was that movie just a test to see how fans would react to a prequel to the 2001 “Planetof the Apes” starring Mark Walberg (“Ted”). With that said this installment does out shine its predecessor by making 20 million more in its opening weekend.

    Set 10 years after the escape of Caesar played by Andy Serkis (“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”) and his army of genetically evolved apes into the San Francisco wilderness. We see Caesar and the apes in their own habitat living in happiness and peace. We learn in the film that a disease caused by the same chemical that made Caesar and the rest of the apes more evolved became a disease to any human that came into contact with it. This disease killed off  most of the human race or so the apes  thought until they come into contact with Jason Clarke (“White House Down”) and his people who need Caesar’s help.

  All in all this was a great installment to the prequel series. I was particularly impressed with all the special effects done in this movie. Packed with a great cast and a great director, Matt Reeves (“Cloverfield”), the film still manages to tell an impressive story and begins to shed the light on how the planet became dominated by apes as the primary species and foreshadowing of what’s to come with an Easter  egg here and there.

   Gary Oldman’s (“TheDark Knight Rises”) character intrigude me as this film went on. I guess in every decaying civilization movie you have to have that one guy who believes he’s the savior of mankind and must attack anything he doesn’t fully understand. Gary Oldman portrays this character well throughout the movie only to find out  he wasn’t the main villain. Watching the trailers to this movie made it seem that he was. I think this used more Gary Oldman as the bad guy in this film but as for Reeves did still works.

   If you haven’t seen this movie yet you should check it out at your local theatre. It does leave itself open for another installment, so we’ll see if Matt Reeves will take the reigns as director again. As of now I give this movie a 9 out of 10 of my action movie scale.