Ok so if anyone is familiar with this blog you know that I loved Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I could go on and on about it and watch it every single day without getting tired of it. It was just that amazing! So when word of a sequel started to spread, I got goosebumps. I couldn't wait to see what happened with Caesar. Well the time finally arrived. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes premiered today and it did not disappoint. Dawn starts off by showing you that the pilot's blood drop from Rise creates an epidemic. People are sick. People are dying. People are panicking. People are gone .... and that's just in the opening credits. This is beautifully done. It's a montage of sort. They show how the disease has spread across the world using a blood trail. What was really cool was Barack Obama's little scene where he is telling citizens how to evacuate. I see you Barack!
So now it's 10 years later (only you do not know that straight off the back) and we are in the forest with Caesar and his ape community. Caesar has an ape wife, an ape son and his wife is preparing to give birth to another child. He is the leader of the community and they are thriving. They have a school where Maurice, the orangutan, is the teacher. They have laws: 1. no ape shall kill another ape 2. Knowledge is power 3. Apes stand together. The apes are out hunting for food together when Caesar's son (who is hardheaded and does not listen) is suddenly attacked by a grizzly bear. That bear scared the ish out of me! I literally jumped in my seat. Totally NOT expected! But anyhoo the bear proves too much for Caesar so he calls for help. Old Blue Eyes aka Koba from Rise comes to the rescue. This scene introduces us to the concept that Koba and Caesar are friends. They have been through a lot since their days in Rise. Koba even shares with Caesar that since Caesar rescued him he will always be loyal to him. Chile somebody should've told Caesar
This is the time where we find out that it's been 10 years since the outbreak and 2 years since the apes have seen a human. They are presumed to all be gone. Until the day when two young apes are walking through the woods and stumble on a group of humans. In a panicked state, the stupid human ... who shall always be Alvarez from Oz to me ... open fires. I guess he never saw Rise. But anyhoo this leads to a shitload of apes coming to see what is going on. After analyzing the situation, Caesar bans the humans from the forest...telling them never to return. But we are all humans so you know what the humans do right? They return! Well the nice one does. Apparently the humans are running out of fuel and the dam that will supply energy for their village happens to be located in the woods where Caesar and his crew reside. So the one nice human goes back to the woods and begs Caesar for access to the dam. Caesar agrees seeing this as an opportunity for peace between apes and humans. Koba disagrees. He takes this as a sign that Caesar is weak especially after he discovers that the humans are planning to attack the apes if the one nice human does not return in 3 days. Koba then plots a plan to dethrone Caesar and attack the humans. After witnessing the bond that is taking place between the apes and humans, Koba shoots Caesar. He plants a human gun and hat leading Caesar's son to believe that Caesar was shot by humans. Kopa then burns down the apes homes and trees. He leads an ambush to the human's home and starts a war. There's lots of fighting, lots of shooting, lots of cray cray apes who really should be smarter than this .... but even smart people have dumb moments ... I guess. In the midst of all of this we find out that Caesar survived his attack. He takes the nice human and his family back to the place where he grew up at in Rise. He is eventually reunited with his family and friends. He also kills Kopa. The final scene sets us up for the next movie. The humans have contacted the military and they are coming to attack the apes. The nice human tries to warn Caesar so that he can run. However Caesar refuses. He tells the nice human to run and he does ... and Caesar and his ape crew await the military's arrival. Whew ... glad I got all of that out. Now here are my thoughts:
1. I have never cheered for an ass whooping as hard as I cheered for Kopa's ass whooping. I mean I loved bruh man in the first film but he had it coming this film. Because Caesar was shot and recovering from surgery I was doubtful that he would be able to hand out the type of ass whooping that Kopa deserved. For 40 minutes all I kept mumbling was "Somebody need to kick Kopa's ass!" Caesar did not disappoint. My soul was pleased. I havent yelled that loud since the Avengers kicked Loki's ass! Caesar went all HULK on Kopa and I was here for it.
2. Anger is a powerful tool. So is forgiveness. If anger is not checked it turns into bitterness and resent. It can boil over and turn into hatred. I feel bad for Kopa I really do. I felt bad for him in Rise. The humans did terrible things to him. However his anger was his downfall. Had he known the power of forgiveness and practiced it none of this would've happened. See forgiveness is not for the other person ... its for YOUR sanity. Instead of forgiving Kopa's anger lingered and turned him into the very thing that he despised ... an evil being! When he murdered Ash I was too through. I wish there was some way that Caesar could have saved him but oh well.
3. I love Rocket. I adore Maurice. But Caesar IS everything!!! Not only is Caesar smart ...he's also very wise. The things that come out of his mouth and the way he carries himself are just flat out amazing. I'm so happy that he did not die because I could not imagine this series without him.
4. Listen to your parents! Caesar's son was hardheaded. Lawd that child was hardheaded. He got it together in the end and even ended up saving Rocket and Maurice's life. The relationship between him and Caesar was typical. Sometimes we as children do not fully understand what our parents are trying to teach us until it is too late.
5. One theme that resonated throughout the entire film was loyalty. Kopa smiled in Caesar's face and called him brother but was the one working overtime to try to take him down. Isnt there always someone in your life just like that? Jealous of your glory ... but dont know your entire story? Want what you have and think they can do it better .... but when given the opportunity they see all that glitters aint gold. Kopa wanted Caear's spot but he was too dumb to handle it. How many apes died while he was in charge? How much confusion, lost and mayhem occurred while he was in charge? Kopa was born to be a lieutenant and nothing else. He was not leader material. What kills me is how professed his loyalty to Caesar for 70 minutes and shot him afterwards. Shot him with no remorse. If Caesar had a Pinterest account he would've known to
5. Since the trailer came out all I have heard were comments comparing the apes to African Americans. I WISH! Shoot as an African American woman I was thinking...wouldn't it be great for our communities if we governed our self to the same laws that the apes had. 1. No ape will kill another ape. With black on black crime at an all time high how powerful could we be if WE stopped killing on another. 2. Knowledge is power. The apes had a school. They knew that without education they were nothing. 3. Apes support one another. Chile if we WERE like these apes in any sort or fashion we would be better off. IJS
Anyhoo my advice...go and see it! You wont be disappointed. My grade? A+
