Monday 7 September 2015

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes- Evolution or revolution?

Are we really the most intelligent species? Or can another species ever surpass us? Apes, our ancestors from whom we've evolved have very similar traits like us. Maybe, with the right exposure, could there come an era when they rule over us?

Ten years after the deadly virus of ALZ-113 was seen in the world, the disease of Simian Flu has every human fighting for life. Quarantine zones are set up all over the world, civil unrest and martial law and taking over all countries and economic conditions are going down. Just as all this is happening in the world, parallelly a group of apes who were originally exposed to the virus are now genetically intelligent and are building their own civilisation.

Caesar leads the group of apes in the Muir woods of California. Having no contact with the outside world, they believe that the humans have long gone. One day, as Caesar's son, Blue Eyes and his friend Ash are getting back home after a hunt, they come face to face with a human, Carver. He was one of the survivors of the epidemic and was living in the human colony in California with many others who are gentically immune like him. Shocked and panicky, Carver shoots Ash. Caesar and the other apes come to the crime scene as the other humans from Carver's party also assemble. Malcolm tries talking to Caesar who just demands then to leave. The human party, feeling absolutely bewildered at the sight of seeing an ape talk, leave.

After getting back to the colony, Malcolm tries to convince Dreyfus, the head of the colony to let him talk to Caesar and negotiate. They sorely needed power and their only answer was to get this power from a dam in the Muir woods. Malcolm thought that if Caesar had let them live, he wasn't just an ape and could be negotiated with. So the next day, Malcolm sets out with Carver, Alexander his son and Ellie to talk to the apes. He reaches the place and successfully gets Caesar's permission to show him the dam. After much thought, Caesar agrees on one condition that they get all the humans' guns. Agreeing to the terms, the team gets to work.

Although everything is going as it should, trouble stirs up when Koba, a fellow ape is not happy with Caesar's decision of helping the humans. So, he does a little sleuthing and finds out about the stockpile of arms and ammunition in the human camp. He comes back to reveal this discovery but instead starts calling Caesar a traitor and accuses him of loving  humans more than his own kind. The two get into a fight which never gets sorted out. Desperately searching for a way to end this, Koba steals guns from the camp and kills Caesar, only to blame it on the humans who had been working there.

Complete catastrophe strikes as the apes decide to follow Koba to war, completely ignoring the idea of peace that Caesar wanted. Will they be able to defeat humans, the species evolutionarily higher than them or will this war between man and ape end with a reverse of evolution?

Set in the perfect gloomy place of California where it rains all the time, this movie gets its added effects just with the location. The unbelievable morphing of apes throughout the movie is commendable. All the fights and chases with the climax leave you at the edge of your seat. For me, the ending was a real pincher as it leaves you with a small cliff hanger waiting for more. So, if you're in for a bit of action and sci-fi, this is the movie you want to see.




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