Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

10 years ago, a miracle happened - the world first heard apes talk! An experimental cure for Alzheimer’s, designed to repair and create new connections in the brain, was initially tested on monkeys. But it didn’t just cure them; it made them smarter…

A decade on, humanity is struggling. Gathered in the remnants of the once-proud city of San Francisco, led by Dreyfus (Gary Oldman), the forest is taking back the buildings, and the only source of power will run out in a matter of days. Then the lights, the generators, and all other technology stops, and all humans will become little more than well-dressed apes themselves.

Andy Serkis (Gollum from Lord of the Rings), reprises his role as Caesar: the first ape to speak and leader of the apes. Proud of the civilisation they have built – baboons, apes and chimpanzees living together in harmony - faraway from any humans, Caesar is unwilling to let anything disrupt this. Unfortunately, however, the human’s only salvation – a disused power station - is directly under the ape city...

Koba, whose character was initially set up in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, is an ape who has long endured painful experimentation and has nothing but hate and distrust for humans, but he’s not the only one... Distrust between both sides is rife; and the longer the humans stay, the more the tensions rise. Tensions that could start an all-out war and cause extinction to an entire species!

While staying relatively faithful to the original iconic films from the 1970s, this is also a compelling continuation of the first film of the reboot and well worth a watch.

Natalie Tyldesley