In the latest clip from "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," Caesar brings what looks like his entire ape population to a human sanctuary in what's left of San Francisco. Clearly angry and embittered toward humans, Caesar nonetheless attempts to avoid open conflict between mankind and the new civilization of intelligent apes. With off-the-charts tension levels, a standoff between the two sides ends when Caesar offers a dire threat to the humans.
What works so brilliantly about this scene is how Caesar's apes inspire terror in the human survivors — with nothing but their presence. The clip is embedded below. It's only about a minute long, but its sense of doom is superb.
In "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," ten years have passed since Caesar and his fellow apes in captivity were gifted with human-like intelligence. Unfortunately, the manmade pathogen that heightened their minds had a detrimental effect on humanity; the "Simian Flu" has decimated mankind, killing 90% of the global population. Civilization has broken down entirely and human survivors live in hiding — particularly those in close proximity to the burgeoning ape colony near San Francisco, where an inevitable conflict is building.
"Dawn" stars Jason Clarke as new protagonist Malcolm, a human survivor who wants to foster peace; Gary Oldman as villain Dreyfus, a man obsessed with wiping out the apes so mankind can return to dominance; Keri Russell as Ellie, a nurse and friend to Malcolm; Kodi Smit-McPhee as Malcolm's son Alexander, who has a secret friendship with one of the elder apes; and of course Andy Serkis as Caesar. Matt Reeves ("Cloverfield") takes over directing duties for Rupert Wyatt, who passed on the sequel. Reeves is already signed on to direct the third film in the series as well.
Let's be honest. There's no reason "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" should have worked. The "Apes" franchise may be a classic, but enthusiasm for it had waned over time. An attempt to reboot the series was launched by Tim Burton in 2001, but despite some impressive makeup effects, it failed to inspire renewed interest. It was quite a surprise when Fox decided to try a second reboot with the 2011 prequel. Audiences were dazzled by the work of motion capture maestro Andy Serkis, whose digital transformation into a believable, photo-realistic ape was can't-look-away spellbinding. The film was smartly-written and benefited from terrific word-of-mouth, so its sequel has been highly anticipated.
