i can never remember. i will be seeing this sommewhere this weekend. sommewhere. my big question is still how the hell are they going to get this franchise back on track. meaning how the hell are they going to get human astronauts to go 5000 years into the future with present day technology AND have them be oblivious to the fact that apes have begun revolting and hijacking airplanes and flying their i.q. boost gas all over the world. i suppose they could land on the earth of the future and say "wow. looks like the apes won"
if you see it on friday don't forget to use spoiler alerts.

i thought it sucked pretty bad. i would not recommend you rush out to see this one. there was no mention of the icarus.

If the last Apes film (RISE) was a re-imagining of CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (the 4th in the original series), this is sort of BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES PART I.

What I like about the re-boot is that they have been smart films which treat the story (and the audience) intelligently (unlike the laughable Marky Mark-Tim Burton disaster). They are serious thoughtful blockbuster movies, and, if for that alone, they are a cut above the norm.

But, the seriousness cuts both ways. One one hand, it elevates the stakes, on the other - where is the sense of fun? Like this year's GODZILLA re-boot, the filmmakers seem to be trying ape (sorry) Nolan's BATMAN films with the idea that seriousness denotes quality. That the APES reboots work is a tribute to the writing, acting, production and directing.

What's most interesting about DAWN is that they give us the Apes POV first and foremost (indeed, the first 20 minutes or so is set entirely in Ape world). The humans are treated very much like the invaders. Unfortunately, the character development of the humans is also secondary, with Gary Oldman's one-note character being the worst example.

There is also a sense of this being just a sequel. A segment. A Part I of a two part BATTLE storyline. Hopefully, there will be more suprises and sense of story urgency in the next one besides just a Part II of the war. Oh, an a little more fun wouldn't hurt, either.