- Directed by: Matt Reeves
- Written by: Mark Bomback, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver
- Stars: Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Andy Serkis
- Run Time: 2 Hours, 10 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpSaTrW4leg
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
About ten years have passed since the events of the first movie. Humanity is on the decline and apes are ascending. But Caesar is finding that apes are becoming more like humans too, which isn’t entirely a good thing. This one is more of the same with a good continuing story and lots of action. It’s on par with the first one.
Spoilery Synopsis
We hear news reports about the Gen Sys virus as we see flashbacks to the first film. We also hear about the ape escape. The plague goes badly, only 1 in 500 humans survive. The cities burn, and civilization falls. Credits roll.
Caesar leads a hunting party, but he’s attacked by a bear. Koba saves him. Caesar’s son, Blue Eyes, gets injured, but not badly. They’ve built a whole Ape City out in the hills. Maurice is teaching all the baby apes to read. Mrs. Caesar gives birth to a new baby, and they’re all pretty happy.
Caesar and Maurice talk about old times; they’ve come a long way. They wonder if all the humans are gone; it’s been ten years, and none have been sighted.
While hunting, Blue Eyes comes across a human in the woods, a human with a gun, who shoots Ash, Rocket’s son. The human, Carver, calls more humans, but they’re soon surrounded by a zillion apes. The human leader, Malcolm, talks to the apes and orders the men to put their guns down. “Go!” yells Caesar, and the men run, dropping a bag of stuff behind them.
Koba follows the men back across the Golden Gate Bridge into the city, where they report to Dreyfus, the leader. They went out to the woods to find the hydro dam so they could turn the power back on. They also talk about the apes speaking. None of the humans knew the apes had evolved.
Koba returns to the ape city and tells about the human town. Many of the apes want to attack them and finish them off. Caesar doesn’t want to fight anymore.
Soon, the ape army arrives outside what’s left of San Francisco. Malcolm goes out to talk to Caesar. “Apes do not want war, but will fight if we must” roars Caesar to the assembled crowd. Caesar makes it clear that the humans need to leave them alone.
Dreyfus reminds the humans that they have a huge stockpile of weapons, and the plague has burned out, so no one should worry. Fuel is their main problem, so they need that dam back in action.
Malcolm and Dreyfus know that the dam is really the only option. Malcolm wants to negotiate with Caesar. Dreyfus gives him three days before he takes armed men up to shoot the apes. Malcolm takes his wife, Ellie, and son, Alexander, along with him.
Malcolm soon finds Ape City. Malcolm shows Caesar and the ape leaders to the dam and explains what he wants to do. He wants to restore the dam to supply power to the city. The apes allow the work, but only if the humans give up their guns. Koba is not pleased with this plan, but he obeys Caesar. On the human side, Carver has thoughts just like Koba.
Mrs. Caesar is clearly sick after having her baby. The humans are taken to the dam for work. There’s a cave in, and the apes save the humans from certain death.
Koba scouts in the city, where Dreyfus is arming the humans for possible war. He gets cornered, but acts like a dumb monkey to throw the men off. Ellie is a doctor, and she helps Mrs. Caesar.
Koba returns to the dam and confronts Caesar, and he’s not so submissive this time, so Caesar beats the crap out of him. “Ape not kill ape,” says Caesar as he stops. A lot of the apes disagree with what Caesar’s been doing. Blue Eyes, Caesar’s son, agrees with Koba.
Koba does his “dumb monkey” routine and kills the first two human guards in the city. At the trucks, Koba kills Carver.
The humans soon get the power turned on, and Malcolm and Caesar are friends again. They can even see the lights from the city– it worked! Mrs. Caesar is feeling much better as well. It’s an all-around happy ending– but there’s another hour to go, that’s not gonna cut it.
Koba returns to Ape City and shoots Caesar and sets fire to the city. He has a human gun and blames the humans for killing Caesar. “Apes must attack human city! Fight back! Fight for Caesar!”
In the big city, all the humans are celebrating that the power is back on. Dreyfus has recharged his iPad and looks at old photos of his dead family. His men start transmitting on the radio, trying to call in other humans.
Suddenly, the apes attack the armory and get the weapons. Dreyfus sounds the alarm, but the apes have all the big guns now. The humans are entrenched and fortified, so the apes are getting cut down in the streets. Koba breaks down the doors with a captured tank.
Malcolm and his family have been hiding in the woods all night, and they come across Caesar, not quite dead after all. Ellie goes to work on him; all he cares about is his family. Malcolm assumes Carver shot Caesar, but the ape explains the truth of it.
One of the apes refuses to kill humans unnecessarily, so Koba kills him in front of everyone. Koba declares himself the leader and starts rounding up all the remaining humans.
Caesar hides the human family in the house he used to live in during the first film.
Malcolm runs into Blue Eyes and brings him to Caesar. Caesar tells him that Koba was the one who shot him. Ellie operates, and Caesar starts to recover. Maurice and Rocket are being held prisoner; Koba kills Ash. Blue Eyes returns to the prisoners and releases them– and the innocent humans.
The ape leaders all get together at Caesar’s old house and make plans. Malcolm goes to talk to Dreyfus, who has a plan to kill all the apes at once. Malcolm holds the others at gunpoint to give Caesar enough time to take care of Koba.
Caesar confronts Koba in front of all the apes and they soon begin fighting. It’s all very epic up on the construction tower. He reports that the radio men have made contact, and soldiers are coming.
Dreyfus presses the button, and the whole tower starts to explode and fall down, only partially because they were interrupted planting the explosives. Even as the building collapses, Koba doesn’t stop, killing more apes. Finally, Caesar drops him off the ledge.
Caesar realizes that the apes started the war, and the humans aren’t going to forgive and forget. He tells Malcolm to get his family out before human soldiers arrive and all-out war really begins.
Caesar’s still got his whole family– what’s he going to do now?
Brian’s Commentary
I find it unlikely that everything in the city would look so old after only ten or so years. The dam was all overgrown, rusty, and moldy. How does that happen so quickly?
As for the rest, it’s a logical progression after the first film. There are still lots of humans, but the apes have a slight edge now. The humans probably would’ve just been happy with their electricity if Koba hadn’t messed everything up; it’s all the apes’ fault this time.
I wouldn’t say the ape CGI is necessarily better in this one, but there’s a lot more of it, along with more ape characters. If you like the previous one, this is good too.
Kevin’s Commentary
This was a good one, continuing the story well. And of course leaving it wide open for more to come. If it hasn’t been mentioned before, you should check out the original Planet of the Apes movies from the late 1960s and 1970s to see how they compare. The old and the new both have their entertainment value.