Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Review by Matt Finley

Precisely as powerful, and twice as fun as THE DARK KNIGHT, DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is the best summer sequel in ages. Having admirably tackled most of the series’ clumsiest expositional burdens (that pesky ape-smartening, human-killing wonder drug) in 2011’s RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, joined here by THE WOLVERINE scribe Mark Bomback and director Matt Reeves (LET ME IN), are able to swing effortlessly into the post-ape-ocalyptic future, where a single gunshot fired by a cowardly plague survivor sets off a profound and devastating series of events, upsetting the tenuous balance between a human civilization in decline and the rising empire of the apes.