Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is the absolute pinnacle of what can be done with special effects in cinema.

You take for granted how photo-real the film looks and are totally absorbed into the post-apocalyptic landscape.

I'm a sucker for an 'end of the world' apocalypse movie and ...Apes delivers big time on that front.

The story moves on nicely from the first film and develops the relationships between the apes to the point where they are the heroes of the piece and you're rooting for them to triumph.

The only drawback is that a lot of hefty plot movement has been left for the third, as yet untitled, movie in the trilogy but that does mean you can revel in the greater character depth here.

Better than Rise... (amazingly) and still paying respect to the original this is a must see film.

4 stars ****