The Lock Box: 'Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes' Is A Swinging Success

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes/20th Century Fox

Throughout history, there have been only a handful of sequels that are considered to be superior over the first installments. Off of the top of my head, I could only think of 6; The Terminator: Judgement Day, Aliens, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, The Dark Knight Rises, X2 and the most recent of which, Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Now, we can add the sequel to 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes, to that list-- or at least I can. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was a film on an epic scale. Not only because of the action scenes or the film's set pieces, but because the performances was incredible. The film was cast so perfectly, they really made you feel the tension between the two species, throughout the entire movie.

Set 10 years after the first installment, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes takes you inside the lives of the apes that have, more or less, become the dominant species, or at least close to it, as well as the handful of human survivors, stashed away in a corner in San Francisco.

Led by Caesar(Andy Serkis), the apes have built a type of utopian society near a fresh water supply, with tree houses that would put the ones you might've climbed to shame. With Caesar and his mate, Cornelia(Judy Greer), sitting at the head of the table of this evolved group of apes, Koba(Toby Kebbell), the human-hating test ape from the first film, is back and never far from his side.

All of the old favorites from the first film are back as well, and are ape-ier than ever, including: Maurice(Karin Konoval), Rocket(Terry Notary) and also introducing Blue Eyes(Nick Thurston), Caesar's adolescent son.

Humans, on the other hand, are just trying to survive, but at least have an arsenal of weapons behind them.

The film itself doesn't focus on one group over the other, as director Matt Reeves(Cloverfield) has done a fantastic job giving an equal amount of screen time to both species. It does, however, focus on two families in particular, Caesars'(of course) and Malcolm's(Jason Clarke).

Andy Serkis(left), Toby Kebbell(middle), Jason Clarke(right) and Karin Konoval(far right)

Keri Russell joins the cast as Ellie, Malcolm's girlfriend, as well as Kobi Smit-McPhee, who of which plays his son, Alex.

Malcolm and friend, Dreyfus(Gary Oldman), have built a society of their own. But when their towns' power supply starts running low, it is decided that another alternative energy source is needed.

The plot provides a bit of social commentary as well, with humans relying too much on fossil fuel or nuclear power as energy sources. After all, they had invested in learning about solar or wind energy, everyone could've lived happily ever after and war could've been prevented-- maybe. But they didn't and that's how the first chance encounter between the two species happens, and it's just that; chance and out of nowhere.

A small party, which happens to include Malcolm, stumbles on to ape territory, with some of the humans acting just as you'd figure they'd(we'd) act. What follows, starts a ripple effect that's felt by both groups, thus setting up what I feel will be the third and final movie in the series.

At no ones surprise, the stars af the show, no offense to the humans that played humans, are the apes, played by humans. How Andy Serkis does not have an Oscar or two already under his belt is beyond me. I certainly hope this film does help net him one. I mean, the guy's an amazing actor, and it's been proven time and time again that not just anyone can play a fictional character, whilst wearing a unitard, that will end up being completely unrecognizable after a film's post-production. I really hope Andy wins an Oscar for this; I really, really do

In the film overall, there are no weak spots with the amazing cast that's been put together. The film has it all; drama, action, amazing set pieces, a cohesive plot that's not all over the place(I'm looking at you, Amazing Spider-Man 2), amazing performances and fantastic CGI.

This film will receive, and deservedly so, without question, a 5/5 star rating from myself. I would gladly pay again and again to see this movie. If you haven't yet, I suggest you "swing" by your local theater.

Ha-ha.