To be completely honest here, back when it was first announced that Fox was planning a reboot of the Planet of the Apes series, I honestly couldn't have cared less. But sure enough, now I find myself impatiently awaiting its upcoming sequel. Who would've though a series-who's cast is lead by a bunch of people in mo-cap playing CGI monkeys-would become on of the few serious summer blockbusters on the watch of movie goers this year. While we had seen an earlier teaser trailer for the film (And I can't stress the word "teaser" enough), we now finally have a legit full length theatrical trailer for the film, showing off our new cast of human characters (Including Gary Oldman, Jason Clarke, and Keri Russell) along with some familiar apes.
Below is the new full-length theatrical trailer for Matt Reeves' Dawn of the Planet of the Apes:
If there's one sure thing we can get out of this trailer, it's that we finally have a definitive idea of what direction Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) is taking this franchise in. The first Rise of the Planet of the Apes film managed to shock many fans with it's outstanding effects and complex approach to the narrative of Caesar's character, but things weren't looking as bright for the sequel during it's first stages of development. With original director Rupert Wyatt leaving the franchise, a director with a much different style coming on board, and the announcement that the film would be going with an entire new human cast, all the fans really had keeping them optimistic was the return of Andy Serkis as Caesar himself.
We can now see how he series is slowly transitioning from the more human focused present day story line of the first film, into the eventual full on ape rule it will reach. This time around, the apes will be caring much more of the weight when it comes to the film's narrative, specifically Andy Serkis' Caeser. The first film already gave us a small taste of his emotional journey into the leader he's now become, and Serkis did a fantastic job at conveying the ape's emotions and getting audiences attached to with practically not dialogue spoken throughout the entire film. But here we see Caesar's finally speaking almost in complete sentences, as well as the return of many familiar apes from the first film, and their own much more human and organized interactions with each other and the humans.
There are certainly a lot of aspects of the first film's story that'll continue to play out in this film, specifically the lasting effects of the virus that is killing off the human population. Speaking of the humans in this film, while they were certainly a concern when Dawn was first announced, the cast has more than proved themselves capable of filling the shoes of the first movie's cast. Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty) and Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight Rises) particularly stand out in the trailer as very interesting characters, with Clarke's character seemingly being the human mirror of Caesar, while Gary Oldman's much more aggressive and anti-ape character is sure to start up some trouble.
So what do you think of the new trailer for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes? Are you happy with the direction the franchise is going in? Let us know below!
