UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
PSED 18- DIRECTED STUDY

ECAP, Ianne Francesca P. August 26, 2018

4PSED1 Ass.t Prof. Carmina Vicente, LPT, MA

MOVIE CRITIQUE

MOVIE TITLE: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Date Released: July 11, 2014 Genre: Action
Director: Matt Reeves
Main Theme: Evolved Apes and Human Survival

Setting: Muir Woods Park

Lead Characters:
 Caesar: A common chimpanzee like Koba. He is also the former ruler of the apes.
 Malcolm: A human being. He is the leader of a group a human group that took attacked
Caesar’s troop.
 Koba: A chimpanzee that is also a deceitful deputy of Caesar. He has a lot of hatred in is
heart for humans.
 Cornelia: A common chimpanzee, she is known for being the wife of Caesar. She is also
the mother of Blue Eyes and to a newborn son.
 Rocket: A common chimpanzee. Also an enemy of Caesar which turned out to be his
friend.
 Blue Eyes: A former chimpanzee. Son of Caesar and Cornelia.
 Ash: A chimpanzee and the son of Rocket. Friend of Blue Eyes.

Synopsis/ Plot summary: (1 paragraph; 5-8 sentences only)

Ten years after what happened in the movie “Rise”, a sequel of The Planet of the Apes took place.
Caesar, who was the main character in Rise, had happily moved on from the events. He is the leader
and ruler of the evolved Apes. Together with his wife Cornelia and his son, Blue Eyes. Caesar and
the apes are living peacefully in the forest of Muir Woods located in the North San Francisco. Until a
group of human survivors from an illness called Simian Flu, passed on to their place. In order to
bring back their strength and power, they need to pass through Caesar’s domain and restore their
power through a hydroelectric dam. Caesar and Malcolm are ready to allow the humans to pass
though and make peace but his lieutenant, Koba hates those humans and does not want to agree
with Caesar, in fact he wants to kill the humans. This hatred built chaos and war between humans
and the apes.
Movie Critique (1-2 brief paragraphs only; refer to the given ILO1 instructions)

I have observed a purpose of a scientific research in the movie. “Dawn of the Planet of the
Apes” through the humans first, because these humans; a survivor of Simian Flu had gone
through a research by trying to find out how to bring back and restore their power. Its
purpose is for them to have strength again after being under an illness and surviving it,
they need restoration and the only way is to attack the evolved apes and revitalize a
hydroelectric dam. This dam needs to be revived by the humans but they have to go
through the group of Caesar. However the group of Caesar does not want to approve. Since
Koba (deputy of Caesar and a common chimpanzee) has no faith in humans, he disagreed
with Caesar to make peace with the humans and tries to kill them. Malcolm returned to the
woods to explain to Caesar that to be able to give back the power to the city, they need to
repair the hydroelectric dam together with some technicians, which also showed a form of
a scientific research through how Malcolm tries to take away the blockage to the dam with
his fellow humans. Another is that the humans tried to know what makes the apes stronger
than the humans, which turns out to be that they don’t require the same power that the
humans actually do, in fact they can easily adapt to their surroundings. This form of
research lets them know how to defeat the apes and win over the restoration of their city
which is through reviving the hydroelectric dam.

As a result, the humans had brought back the supply of power to the city of San Francisco
and they celebrated by dancing. On the other hand, the remaining alive apes including
Caesar and his family came up to the tower to reunite however, Malcolm also came up and
warned Caesar that a military reinforcement wants to start a war and will threaten their
kind and his family. Caesar also told Malcolm to go back and protect his family. From then
on, Caesar and Malcolm instilled their friendship. The kind of research that the humans did
in which they had success still has a bad side and an ethical issue. Yes they informed the
apes that they have to rebuild a dam, but they did not fully undergone being free from
harm. In order to be successful, they went through war and hurt each other physically and
most importantly, even psychologically. This form of research is completely NOT “Free
from risk of harm” because there were apes that ended up dead and in the first place, there
is a risk that will take place but the humans took the risk to get what they want. This results
to a loss of peace between humans and apes. Believing and applying the ethics and research
will prevent us from having harm and chaos with each other. It can also be a sign that a
person is committed in becoming an ethical researcher because they understand well the
ethics in research which are the things that is the RIGHT thing to do and which they must
follow.