The First Trailer for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Has Hit the Internet

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a direct sequel to 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes and serves as a further precursor to the dystopian future we’ve been shown in the several other films of the series.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is the ninth film in the franchise, which began all the way back in 1968 with Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, and the stickin’ paws of a lot of damn dirty apes, when they adapted Pierre Boulle’s French novel Planet of the Apes into a cultural phenomenon.

The 2011 film, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, served as both a prequel and a reboot of the franchise, after Tim Burton’s 2001 remake of the original film misfired. With Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, both director (Rupert Wyatt) and star (James Franco) of the 2011 film have exited the picture, but Andy Serkis (who has become the master of motion capture) returns as the revolutionary Caesar. He’s joined by Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight Trilogy), Keri Russell (The Americans), and Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty and potentially John Connor in Terminator: Genesis), with director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield).

Check out the trailer:

What I absolutely love about this is that Reeves seems to have taken a bit of a page out of the “Zombie Apocalypse” genre with the world having become overgrown and worn away, with the twist of the revolting apes-instead of being mindless zombies-acting as an intelligent horde battling humans and reclaiming the planet for nature. I enjoyed the 2011 film’s premise of man’s hubris and attempts to control nature leading to our downfall, and I like how we are now going to see that idea actually taken through the finish line, instead of a hero swooping in to save the day at the end. That’s because we know how this story ends, and that foreboding fact is just floating out there; it’s going to be very interesting to see how the film goes about getting us to that foregone conclusion. I’m not sure what exactly to expect from the film overall, but damn if there’s not a lot of potential there. Plus, Caesar’s face covered in war paint looks completely awesome.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, directed by Matt Reeves and starring Andy Serkis, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, and Jason Clarke, will overthrow the box office on July 11, 2014.