Following 2011’s release of Rise, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes continues the upward mobility on the refreshed Planet of the Apes franchise. A smart script with stunning visual effects pushes this film to the top of the best of 2014 list.

Set in 2026, roughly 10 years after Rise, the human population has been decimated by the man made “simian flu”.  A large group of people have holed up in what’s left of San Francisco, but when fuel reserves run low, they are forced out to try and get a hydro-electric dam to work. It is in the woods where human and ape, both survivors, clash.

Dawn is a shockingly good movie. So impressive. It shows the hubris of man and the power that fear and anger has over everyone. The apes are far more than animals, led by Caesar, they are a full, complex and working society. They can communicate in English, which is a shocking revelation for the humans. Being so different, the humans don’t trust the apes. With the abuse animal testing, many of the apes don’t trust the humans. Circumstances shove these two groups together, a tenuous relationship between Caesar and Malcolm (played by Jason Clarke) attempts to get them to work peacefully together. There’s a real edge of uncertainty through most of the movie. The build up is done really well up to the fantastic climax and satisfying end. Dawn is a sequel and it sets up another movie, but it’s its own stand alone story.

Andy Serkis did the voice and motion capture work for Caesar and he’s fantastic. There’s a soul and a heartbeat in Caesar, he’s easy to relate to and understand. He’s a force of good. All the apes are CG creations and it’s some mind blowing work from WETA Digital. The whole movie depends on making the apes believable and they are mostly photo realistic creations. The look like living, breathing beings that interact in a real world with real people. The facial animation alone is amazing stuff. All the motion capture work is fantastic and it’s helped by the human cast led by Jason Clarke (like Caesar, he’s a force of good). Gary Oldman is awesome in everything he does and here he makes for a sympathetic “bad guy”.

There’s so much to love in this movie, I can’ think of a thing that bothered me. Careful and well delivered dialog, social commentary that doesn’t come off as condescending, pitch perfect drama and awesome action scenes. There’s a lot of elements here that few movies can match. It really feels like Dawn is something that could really happen. If you haven’t seen Rise, see it so Dawn will make more sense right from the start. Highly recommended, I can’t wait for the next one.