A deadly virus has killed most of humanity, and only a small number of people and apes have survived.
Following on from 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes, sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes revisits Caesar, a highly intelligent ape who has built a community in the mountains outside San Francisco.
Meanwhile, the human survivors living in the city itself are running out of power. Caesar allows them to repair a power station in the mountains, despite protests from some other apes, including his son.
Koba, a former laboratory monkey who had been freed by Caesar, hates humans and wants to wage war on them. He shoots Caesar and blames it on the humans.
With total war about to break out, will Caesar be able to protect his family and prevent complete devastation?
The computer graphics in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes are absolutely breathtaking. In fact, if you didn't know in advance, you'd be forgiven for believing there are real trained apes performing.
But the fighting scenes between the apes and the humans are a little strange. The apes ride horses and fire machine guns, whereas in the first movie they fought with their hands and basic spears, which seemed more appropriate.
Still, this is an interesting film which manages to pack in plenty of action.