When we left things at the end of Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, the situation was looking grim for the human race. Judging by the first teaser of Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, it hasn't improved much. The pandemic has left humanity - or what's left of it - to survey the wreckage, and facing a new sentient species of apes. Click below to take a closer look.
It's a gloomier, danker and more uncertain world that Matt Reeves pitches us into here. Unsurprising, perhaps, considering most of humanity has been wiped out by the so-called Simian Flu and the remnants live a hand-to-mouth existence, searching for the kind of bellicose leadership provided here by Gary Oldman's Dreyfus.
A decade on from the first reboot, Caesar (Andy Serkis) and his bepawed cohorts have holed up in Ape City, distant from human survivors, and are trying to establish a new community for themselves. "It's an ape civilisation movie," Reeves exclusively tells Empire. "It’s a world you haven’t seen before, which is all about: what would these intelligent apes do if they returned to the wild and tried to create a place for their family... and then grow?”
Man-of-the-moment Jason Clarke is Malcolm, a former architect who reaches out to the apes, possibly hoping to restore a fragile pax between ape and human worlds. As you can see from the bared teeth and angry eyes, this will be no easy task.
For Empire's exclusive Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes preview, pick up the February issue on December 31.