When they rebooted the series with James Franco in “Rise…” I was unimpressed with the sentiment. There are so many possible stories you could tell within the established cannon that it seemed pointless to re-do things. Just pick a different part of the world and go from there! But no, they had to give us Caesar because Hollywood can’t leave franchises alone.

This sequel to “Rise…” has had a few problems. The original director left due to the release date being too soon for him to work with and subsequently Franco was dropped too. But Andy Serkis stays on and they’ve added Gary Oldman to swap Oscar nominees in the cast.

– Blackboard Jungle

We see the apes as they start to set up their soceity. Lots of references and images similar to the original ape towns.

They’re shown to be more like cavemen though, rather than the civilized beings we’ve seen in the past, but it’s still a step up from the pure animal beings they were in the previous movie.

– Commissioner Human

It’s not entirely clear from the trailer but Oldman seems to be playing a leader of some kind with what’s left of humanity after the simian flu killed so many people.

– This Guy

This actor’s name is Kirk Acevedo. He plays a bad guy. All the time. In everything. Ever.

He must just have one of those faces.

– Clever Girl…

Is anyone else getting a Jurassic Park vibe off this bunch?

It must be the hat.

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Overall: This looks to be more of a sci-fi film than “Rise…” and definitely feels a lot closer in theme and style to the original series of films too. I’d be more interested to see this than I ever would have thought before watching the trailer so you have to consider that a success.