The fragile peace between man and ape leader Caesar started being unstable when a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier.
For dramatic verve and emotional nuance, apes trounce people, hands down, and the movie suffers badly from the mismatch; all traces of finesse are trampled by the bombast of the climax.
For the next installment, it might be wisest to forgo our own species altogether and make it all-ape. It is, after all, the logical next step in this particular cinematic evolution.
Dawn is not interested in staging conflict for the sake of it, and the misunderstandings and tensions that drive the plot don't always feel like contrivances.
