What’s Worth Watching: Going Ape

Dawn of the Planet of The Apes
Courtesy Everett Collection
Dawn of the Planet of The Apes

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Saturday, May 23, 8/7c, HBO)

Those of us who grew up as fans of the original Planet of the Apes movie franchise in the late ’60s and ’70s may be feeling a severe case of déjà vu, but there’s little doubt that the new Apes series has raised the furry bar in terms of quality. Following the success of 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the 2014 Dawn (directed by Cloverfield‘s Matt Reeves) is set 10 years later. Caesar (a tremendous Andy Serkis) is still leader of his thriving ape colony outside San Francisco, where humanity struggles to survive in the wake of a pandemic caused by the deadly ALZ-113 virus, otherwise known as the Simian Flu. Jason Clarke and The Americans‘ Keri Russell co-star as humans who bond with Caesar’s tribe as they fight for a shared future. Good news: We only have two more years to wait for the next sequel, War of the Planet of the Apes.