If humanity is ever devastated by a deadly virus and a race of hyper-intelligent apes begins to challenge our position at the top of the food chain, we are totally screwed.
At least, that seems to be the takeaway from the final trailer for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the sequel to 2011’s surprise hit Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
In the new trailer, we see contact made between the human survivors of the virus that ravaged the world at the end of the 2011 film and the freed apes led by Caesar. What begins as a fragile truce soon takes the inevitable turn to all-out war as various elements — human and ape — conspire to force a showdown and determine exactly who the Earth’s dominant species will be. There’s a bit more footage depicting the friendship between the human Malcolm (Jason Clarke) and ape Caesar (Andy Serkis), as well as some indication of who the troublemakers will be on both sides of the war. (Say it ain’t so, Gary Oldman!)
The final trailer for the film doesn’t skimp on the action either, with sequences showing the apes taking down a massive bear, as well as a siege on a human city that includes apes on horseback brandishing automatic rifles in each hand. There’s also an interesting scene involving an ape and a pair of armed humans that indicates exactly how aware the apes are of humanity’s perception — and underestimation — of their intelligence.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes hits theaters July 11.
