'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' Plot Problems

'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' Plot Problems 

Is a 10 year time jump vital for the story?

 

According to ComicBookMovie.com, the plot of ‘Dawn of the Planet of Apes’ is described as such:

A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth's dominant species. 

After watching the trailer for the movie, I can truly say that I’m extremely anxious to watch this movie. Tonally, this film is definitely darker than its predecessor, a trend familiar for most Hollywood sequels nowadays. 

Essentially, a virus has almost eradicated the human species off the face of this earth. The film is set 10 years after ‘Rise of the Planet of Apes’, so the virus has done its work effectively, since whatever left of human civilization shown in the trailer, appears to have set back people by a century or two. And if Gary Oldman’s voice in the trailer is to be believed, humans fighting amongst each other would have also aided this regressive transition for the human race. 

The last movie had Caesar and his fellow primates residing in The Red Oak Forest, seeking sanctuary among its towering trees. To move from that to a state of anarchy and lawlessness is a big, profound and perplexing jump. It is a massive, if not revolutionary change to have humanity at the mercy of primates. This brings the question as to whether this upcoming installment should focus on the ten years that have passed, or whether it should pick up after humans have been brought to their knees.

Of course, most would say that the spread of the virus via airline routes as depicted by the final scene, should be sufficient to clarify this situation.  Had a movie been developed on the 10 years since, it would simply be another ‘Contagion’ or other virus movie. 

But what the trailer illuminated was that humans were now at the mercy of Caesar and the other primates. Isn’t it worth knowing how we got there? The virus and the genetically enhanced primates should be part of the answer but not the entire response. After all, Caesar didn’t possess an army of millions at his command to have mankind under his foot. The trailer also reveals that his hairy friends still reside among the trees, instead of sheltering in apartments and hotel suites. Maybe this is a sign that there’s much more to come from this franchise, and more left for the apes to do in upcoming installments. This franchise is truly alive and well with the reboot, and a ten year fast forward from the last installment may be crucial, to spare the film from turning into another generic virus-spread movie. 

In fact, a fast forward may be necessary as detailing the path that led humans to that sorry state may be too ludicrous to put on screen.  Of course, I understand that the film is dealing with intellectually superior apes, which in itself is an otherworldly phenomenon, but having primates messing around with things like nuclear weapons and such may be preposterous (just an example), for now at least given that the previous film didn’t elaborate extensively on how smart these creatures are, since it was merely an introduction.

While I would have loved to understand how things got so horrible within 10 years in the ‘Planet of the Apes’ universe in lurid detail, it ultimately may be unnecessary and distractive, as everything could be pinned down to the spread of a virus that affects human beings, and not the apes. And besides, Caesar and his friends don’t seem to have done much during that time since they seem to have been holed up in a forest, rather than proceeding with executing some megalomaniacal plan. That decade which was skipped may, as a result, be ignored, as the most interesting and compelling story may still be waiting to be told.