Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

In the second iteration (thankfully Franco-less) of the Planet of the Apes prequel 10 winters have passed and we get the sense that things aren’t going great for the human race. Decimated in the first two minutes by the Simian Flu, everyone’s dead except CDC agent Keri Russell (the only human female speaking part in the film...needless to say the virus hit us hard, ladies), Fringe’s Kirk Acevedo (the asshole who smacks a baby chimp and almost single-handedly starts the fated war), unapologetic bigot Gary Oldman and “why can’t we all just get along” Malcolm (Jason Clarke). Meanwhile, in ape town Caesar is busy teaching, building and procreating while his best friend Brutus, sorry wrecked-face Koba, plans a hostile takeover. We all know where this is going, so it’s a good thing the CGI acts as a pretty distraction. A long placeholder (when do the humans get enslaved already?), Dawn builds anticipation with a Catching Fire-level eye zoom in the last two seconds but should have more to show for two hours. —Lindsay Raining Bird