This summer’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes looks pretty fantastic. As directed by Let Me In helmer Matt Reeves, it picks up the story of super-intelligent simian Caesar (played through motion-capture once again by the brilliant Andy Serkis) ten years after the end of Rise, when a devastating virus was unleashed on the human race. When Dawn opens, the apes have control, and Caesar rules over all of them. His new dominion is threatened, however, by a group of human survivors led by the mysterious Dreyfus (Gary Oldman), who wants to wipe all the apes out.
We’ll have to wait until next month to see how it all plays out, but Fox has been very generous with all manner of trailers and posters for the film. Now, the studio has unveiled one that works to fill in just what happened during the decade between the end of Rise of the Planet of the Apes and the beginning of Dawn. Check it out below:
Not a traditional trailer in any sense, but chilling all the same. Watching the human race fall into disarray as the Simian Flu spreads throughout the world and utterly devastates the population is very unnerving, particularly in the wake of the swine flu scare. “Attention: due to the extremity of the Simian Flu crisis, all regular government functions have been suspended indefinitely,” one announcer states as the trailer zeroes in on a graffiti image of a gun-toting ape and the words, “Prepare for Dawn.”
If Dawn can give equal weight to both Caesar’s dilemma and that of the humans who find themselves battling his ape army, it could be the rare summer blockbuster with both brains and special-effects brawn.
In addition to Serkis, the film stars Jason Clarke, Keri Russell, Gary Oldman, Judy Greer, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tobey Kebbell, Kirk Acevedo, and Enrique Murciano. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes opens in theaters on July 11th.
