--- title: "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" year: 2014 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes" fi1m_score: 78 critics_score: 75 critics_reviews: 21 published: "2026-09-19T16:52:42.495075+00:00" updated: "2026-09-19T16:52:43.266734+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) Directed by Matt Reeves · 2h 10m · MPA PG-13 · Science Fiction, Action, Drama, Thriller **Fi1m score: 78** · Critics 75 from 21 reviews *In a sentence:* The apes have learned to talk, ride horses and hold a grudge; the humans have learned nothing > Matt Reeves’s sequel spends its first hour with apes who sign more than they speak, and Andy Serkis and Toby Kebbell are the best things in it. The humans are not, and that keeps a fine film short of a great one. ## Synopsis Ten years after a virus emptied most of the cities, a colony of apes lives in the redwoods north of San Francisco under Caesar (Andy Serkis). They hunt elk with spears, speak in sign and teach their young that ape does not kill ape. Then a party of survivors led by Malcolm (Jason Clarke) walks into the forest looking for a dam that could give the city power again, and one of them shoots an ape. Caesar sends them away, then rides to the city to warn its leader, Dreyfus (Gary Oldman), to keep out. Malcolm goes back anyway, with his partner Ellie (Keri Russell) and his son Alexander (Kodi Smit-McPhee), to ask for the dam, while Koba (Toby Kebbell), scarred by a laboratory, watches and trusts none of them. ## Review [*Rise of the Planet of the Apes*](https://film.one/film/rise-of-the-planet-of-the-apes) (2011), directed by Rupert Wyatt, was a small film with a large title: a chimpanzee, a scientist, a virus in a vial. Matt Reeves, who made *Cloverfield* and *Let Me In*, picks the story up ten years on and does something almost no summer sequel does. He opens with apes hunting elk in the rain, talking in sign language with subtitles, and no human says a word for a quarter of an hour. It is a better film than the one before it, and everything wrong with it is on the human side. Caesar (Andy Serkis) is older now, with a wife, Cornelia (Judy Greer), a teenage son, Blue Eyes (Nick Thurston), and a new baby. The colony lives in a fort of lashed timber in the redwoods, and James Chinlund’s design gives it a school, where the orangutan Maurice (Karin Konoval) teaches the young to read, and a wall carved with one rule: ape not kill ape. Weta Digital put rain on the fur and breath in the cold air, and it is tempting to give them all the credit. Watch Serkis instead. Caesar hardly speaks in the first hour, and when he shouts one English word at a party of armed men, the men freeze, and so did we. We had not expected a film of this size to trust us with fifteen minutes of sign language, and it moved us that it did. Toby Kebbell’s Koba is the reason the film has a second half. He is a bonobo with a milky eye and a face crossed with scars from the laboratory that made him, and the script, by Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver and Mark Bomback, is fair to him: he hates humans because of what humans did to his face, and he has a point. There is a scene in which he plays the fool for two men with rifles, hooting and rolling about, and we laughed, and then we stopped laughing, and the switch happens entirely in Kebbell’s eyes. He is a better villain than the genre usually manages, and he never raises his voice. Michael Seresin shoots the forest in grey daylight and rain, and at night by fire, so the apes are orange against black. The humans, when we reach them, live in the concrete shell of a tower behind a stockade, in a San Francisco that Chinlund has left overgrown rather than bombed. Michael Giacchino’s score clatters with wooden percussion and low brass and saves its strings for the apes. William Hoy and Stan Salfas let the first hour breathe, and it is that patience, more than the effects, that makes the place feel lived in. Then there are the people. Jason Clarke’s Malcolm is decent and reasonable and that is the whole of him; he exists so that one human can be trusted. Keri Russell’s Ellie is a nurse with a bag of antibiotics and little else to do. Kodi Smit-McPhee’s Alexander has a sketchbook, which he shows to Maurice, and that is the one human friendship the film bothers to build. Gary Oldman is on screen for perhaps fifteen minutes as Dreyfus, the colony’s leader, and has one scene, alone with a tablet that flickers back to life and shows him his family, in which he says nothing and does more than the rest of the humans put together. You can see where the plot is going by the end of the first act. The second half turns, and we will not say how. What we can say is that the big night battle is staged with a clarity most action films cannot manage, in rain, by firelight, and that Reeves puts his camera on the turret of a tank for one slow unbroken revolution while the fight goes on around it. We were gripped, and a little sick. The last twenty minutes end as these films end, with a fight in a high place, and it is the only stretch where we could have been watching any other film with this much money in it. The 12A is earned: there is an ape on horseback firing two machine guns, and a good deal of it will frighten a nine-year-old. See it on the largest screen you can, because Seresin’s darks turn to mud on a small one. At 130 minutes it earns most of them. The apes have built a society in ten years; the humans have built a wall and a generator, and the film knows which it finds more interesting. *Fi1m score 78, published 19 September 2026.* ### Reviews we read (21) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Todd McCarthy (90/100, inferred): The critic calls it a gripping account of interspecies conflict that maintains tension, improves on the prior film, and delivers a powerful humanistic statement. Andy Serkis’s expressive, soulful performance as Caesar is singled out for particular praise. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/dawn-planet-apes-film-review-715555/) - **Total Film** (90/100, inferred): The critic highlights the strong tension between and within the species, outstanding motion-capture performances especially by Serkis and Kebbell, and the impressive balance of action and intimate scenes. The film is seen as a bleak yet hopeful technical and dramatic achievement that elevates the series. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-review/) - **The New York Times**, A.O. Scott (85/100, inferred): The film is the best of the summer's large-scale studio franchise movies, technically impressive and viscerally exciting while also giving viewers something to think and care about. The critic singles out the apes' sophisticated civilization and Andy Serkis's motion-capture performance as Caesar for particular praise. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/11/movies/review-dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-continues-the-saga.html) - **Vulture** (85/100, inferred): The review describes it as an excellent post-apocalyptic interspecies bromance with a humanist thrust and hope for peace between apes and humans. It singles out the triumph of design, animation, and the magnificent throne-room scene for praise. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2014/07/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-movie-review.html) - **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (80/100, inferred): The sequel is a visual feast worth seeing for the apes alone, with impressive motion-capture work bringing intelligent primate society to life in a way that outdoes the previous film. The critic notes that humans are less compelling than the apes but praises the technical achievement overall. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-planet-of-the-apes-review-20140710-column.html) - **Radio Times**, Lucy Barrick (4/5): This is a storming, soulful blockbuster with incredible ape characterisation and top-end CGI that plays out like an epic Shakespearean tale of betrayal and brutality. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-g4bf50/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes/) - **Slant Magazine**, Steve Macfarlane (80/100, inferred): The film is praised for highlighting incremental tensions and heroic nuance between species rather than all-out conflict, with strong mo-cap effects and a complex situation. It singles out the performances of Serkis and Kebbell and the effects for praise while noting some average dialogue. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes/) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (★★★★): The film balances sympathies across the human-ape divide in a striking addition to the saga, with Reeves handling action sequences with aplomb while keeping focus on character. It praises the breathtaking digital effects and motion-capture work that tells the story from the apes' point of view. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jul/20/dawn-of-planet-of-apes-review-state-of-art-battle-for-supremacy) - **The Telegraph**, Tim Robey (★★★★): Reeves's sequel never allows extraordinary special effects to outgun emotion and intelligence, delivering patience, genuine ideas about diplomacy and leadership, and impressive motion-capture that serves character. It calls the film impressively un-stupid despite risks of silliness. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/10937665/Dawn-of-the-Planet-of-the-Apes-review-impressively-un-stupid.html) - **Time Out**, Tom Huddleston (4/5): The effects are jawdropping and action sequences are marshalled superbly, but the script prioritises brawn over brains with signposted twists and underdeveloped human characters. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes) - **Variety**, Guy Lodge (75/100, inferred): This is a bleak but spectacular and technically superior sequel that bests its predecessor as a vivid war drama with strong performances. The critic highlights the shift to a more assertive genre approach under new director Matt Reeves and the central role of Andy Serkis as Caesar. [Read](https://variety.com/2014/film/festivals/film-review-dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-1201252833/) - **Empire**, Ian Nathan (70/100, inferred): The critic praises the film's technical achievements in performance capture and effects, along with the expressive performances by Serkis and Kebbell that make the apes emotionally compelling. The story is seen as somewhat predictable and narrowly focused on family and conflict themes rather than broader ideas. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/dawn-planet-apes-review/) - **Screen Daily** (50/100, inferred): The sequel is heavier on ape-vs-human action than its predecessor but lighter on intimate drama, making it less emotionally resonant though better equipped as a midsummer box-office earner. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes/5073628.article) - **Little White Lies**, Paul Fairclough (2/2/2): The film fails to recapture the surprise of its predecessor and lacks genuine human characters, relying instead on familiar franchise tropes and spectacular but unsurprising CGI set pieces. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes) - **Evening Standard**, David Sexton (30/100, inferred): The critic finds the film slow, portentous and overly serious, with too much emphasis on technical photo-realism at the expense of dramatic satisfaction or fun compared to the previous entry. Serkis's performance is admired but criticized for taking itself too seriously in a dimly lit, franchise-building story. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-review-andy-serkis-and-his-fellow-simians-take-themselves-too-seriously-in-this-slow-portentous-and-dimly-lit-blockbuster-9613894.html) - **Collider**, Matt Goldberg (A-): The critic calls it a heartfelt, exhilarating, tragic, and profound summer blockbuster that thoughtfully explores the cost of war, the fragility of communities, and the power of dominant individuals through a microcosm of clashing civilizations. Single out for praise is the character-driven story anchored by outstanding motion-capture performances from Andy Serkis and Toby Kebbell. [Read](https://collider.com/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-review/) - **Den of Geek**, Don Kaye (*****): The critic calls the film not just a superior sequel but one of the best in the franchise and a standout sci-fi film of 2014, rich and moving with a thoughtful tone. They single out the complex character dynamics and emotional weight of the central conflict and battle scenes for particular praise. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-review/) - **The Playlist**, The Playlist Staff (B+/A-): The review hails it as a genuine, engrossing blockbuster with serious themes, complex moral conflicts, and emotional stakes that feels like a drama more than a typical action film. It singles out Matt Reeves' direction for its thoughtful character-driven approach and the motion-capture work that makes the apes vividly compelling. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/review-dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-starring-andy-serkis-jason-clarke-gary-oldman-20140709/) - **HeyUGuys**, Emily Breen (85/100, inferred): The critic calls it a high point of the year, praising Matt Reeves for blending Weta's technical mastery with strong performances and an intelligent script into a philosophically rich film. They single out the emotional depth of the ape performances and the complex moral dynamics between and within the groups. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/dawn-planet-apes-review/) - **Polygon**, Ben Kuchera (75/100, inferred): The critic finds the film makes a strong case for the apes while acknowledging nuance on both sides, praising how it establishes unique ape characters, family and trust themes, and avoids simplistic good-vs-bad portrayals. Single out for praise is the groundbreaking motion-capture work by the actors and Weta Digital that brings humanity and depth to the apes under confident direction from Matt Reeves. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/2014/7/14/5897775/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-review-human-extinction) - **The Wrap**, Alonso Duralde (65/100, inferred): The critic finds the film solidly entertaining as an adventure but a step down from its predecessor, lacking big ideas and relying on flatter characters and script issues. They single out Andy Serkis's motion-capture performance as extraordinary and the CG effects as superb. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-review-andy-serkis-gary-oldman/) ## Details - **Director:** Matt Reeves - **Director:** Matt Reeves - **Writer:** Mark Bomback, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver - **Cinematography:** Michael Seresin - **Editor:** William Hoy, Stan Salfas - **Music:** Michael Giacchino - **Production design:** James Chinlund - **Costume design:** Melissa Bruning - **Producer:** Peter Chernin, Dylan Clark, Rick Jaffa - **Cast:** Andy Serkis as Caesar; Jason Clarke as Malcolm; Toby Kebbell as Koba; Gary Oldman as Dreyfus; Keri Russell as Ellie; Kodi Smit-McPhee as Alexander; Nick Thurston as Blue Eyes; Karin Konoval as Maurice - **Runtime:** 2h 10m - **Certificate (MPA):** PG-13 - **Release (the US):** 11 July 2014 - **Genres:** Science Fiction, Action, Drama, Thriller - **Budget:** $170 million - **Box office:** $711 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpSaTrW4leg ## Where to watch in the US - Hulu: streaming, hd - Disney+: add-on, hd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, uhd - Apple TV: rent $4.99, hd - Apple TV: buy $4.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $4.99, uhd *Checked 2026-09-19.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, IE, IL, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TR, UA, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 2015: Best Visual Effects (nominated) ## If you liked this - *Rise of the Planet of the Apes* (2011), Fi1m 80: The smaller film before this one; a chimp, a house, a scientist who loved him. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/rise-of-the-planet-of-the-apes.md) - *Princess Mononoke* (1997), Fi1m 88: Miyazaki’s war between forest and iron, with no side entirely in the right. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/princess-mononoke.md) - *Children of Men* (2006), Fi1m 85: A grey English apocalypse where the last of everything is fought over politely. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/children-of-men.md) - *Ran* (1985), Fi1m 92: Kurosawa’s old king watches his house turn on itself, in colour-coded armies. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/ran.md) - *Project Nim* (2011): A documentary about a chimp raised as a child, and what people did to him. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes