The long awaited sequel to the critically acclaimed 2011 “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” has many good things going for it but it drags from about 60-90 minutes into the film so it isn’t as good as its predecessor.
Caesar (Andy Serkis) is the leader of a band of Apes living in the forest outside of San Francisco. Humanity has been nearly wiped out by the Simian Flu and there are only a few survivors left. There are a few hundred humans living in San Francisco but they are running out of power. If they are to survive, they need to reactivate a dormant hydroelectric power plant.
Malcolm (Jason Clarke) leads a small group of humans to the power plant which turns out to be in territory held by the apes. Ceasar has mixed feelings towards humans since he was treated kindly by his original caretaker but his friend Koba (Tony Kebbell) thinks humans are evil and that Caesar has gone soft. Caesar wants to trust the humans and let them fix the power plant but Koba disagrees. There is also a parallel conflict between Malcolm, who wants to have a cooperative relationship with the apes, and the leader of the humans (Dreyfus-Gary Oldman) who thinks they are a dangerous adversary. How this conflict plays out is the rest of the movie which is, for the most part, pretty interesting and compelling.
The technology has improved since 2011 and the apes are incredibly realistic. The acting of the two apes is also first rate.
If you enjoyed the first movie you should see the sequel but I wish the editing had been better. It’s about 20 minutes too long. If you missed the first one, rent it before seeing this one or you won’t get it.
Rating-7.5-good movie worth a trip to the BS
Dave
