# Dawn of The Planet of The Apes--seen it (Open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 11, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-seen-it-open-spoilers/692892 "2014-07-11T22:23:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-seen-it-open-spoilers/692892/41 "2014-07-17T23:30:41Z")
If the movie is set in San Francisco, there are huge refineries all over the Bay Area. Shouldn’t be a problem finding fuel. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-seen-it-open-spoilers/692892/42 "2014-07-18T01:52:45Z")
So you know the apes may react with hostility to a second incursion into their territory, and you know that the bridge is their only way into the city. I’m just spit-ballin’ here, but maybe you might want to post some pickets on the bridge? ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-seen-it-open-spoilers/692892/43 "2014-07-18T15:22:02Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > What was the deal with the tower rigged with C4? How did they know the apes were going to go to the tower? And how did Malcolm survive the kaboom? 😕 Yeah, that threw me as well. They set up the explosives as this big deal that will pull down the towers and kill all the apes and then - IT HAPPENS!!! And then - NOT MUCH HAPPENS!!! What was up with that? ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-seen-it-open-spoilers/692892/44 "2014-07-19T18:43:47Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > Yeah, that threw me as well. They set up the explosives as this big deal that will pull down the towers and kill all the apes and then - IT HAPPENS!!! And then - NOT MUCH HAPPENS!!! > > What was up with that? They didn’t finish it all because fella I can’t remember the name of threatened them with a gun. So I guess the structure got weakened but not brought down. maybe it’ll fall later. Personally I really enjoyed it. I had no issue with them HAVING to use that power source as it is probably the only one they knew of and were worried about leaving the “safety” of their home. Someone mentioned diesel being all around, yes it was but as they said they were running out of it. It has been a few years. But yes, they should have used the radio before. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-seen-it-open-spoilers/692892/45 "2014-07-19T20:54:30Z")
It has been 10 years. Fuel is not a long-term solution. (Though, yes, waiting to use the radio until they got the dam fixed was dumb.) ---
**Author:** ![DarkFire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@DarkFire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkFire)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-seen-it-open-spoilers/692892/46 "2014-07-20T18:23:39Z")
I really enjoyed the movie, and have no problem with some of the perceived plotholes. 1- why didn’t the humans know about the apes? Because these people had enough trouble surviving. And based on the news reports at the start of the movie the smart apes weren’t as much of a news item as the flu. 2- I’m not convinced all apes were as smart as Caesar and his crew. They seemed to just follow and only ‘talked ape’ Possibly they were slowly getting smarter by following the example. Their hunting methods didn’t seem very efficient and well, if it wasn’t for Koba being wicked & smart, the humans would’ve won the battle. Because the apes were getting slaughtered. 3- Where the other apes came from? Even in the first one there were a lot more than made sense, and I just assume they liberated some more once humanity went down. 4- Why did they need the dam? Because (as Dreyfus said) fuel was running low. It doesn’t seem too far fetched to assume other fuel sources were running dry (or were gone) after ten years of human destruction and infighting. And I totally buy that random people pretty much panic at the thought of living without technology. The first thing their leader did when he got power was charge his freakin’ ipad! But yeah, obviously lots of assumptions to fill out the story and to fill up the holes. But at no point did I feel it got in the way of the story they were telling. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-seen-it-open-spoilers/692892/47 "2014-07-29T19:04:23Z")
Here are three short films set in the POTA continuity; the third is the best, I think: [http://www.thewrap.com/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-three-short-films-fill-the-10-year-gap-since-rise-videos/](http://www.thewrap.com/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-three-short-films-fill-the-10-year-gap-since-rise-videos/) Saw the movie on Sunday. Didn’t like it as much as the Franco/Lithgow reboot from 2011, but it was fun. Thought it could’ve been cut by 20-30 minutes and been even better. Cool opening credits showing the collapse of civilization (incl. Obama and Bloomburg cameos). Very good CGI, all in all. Cool to see San Francisco reverting to a wilderness. Beautiful forest scenes. I agree with most of the plot holes noted above, though. I didn’t buy that a derelict and overgrown dam could be fixed so easily. Or that the doctor would have medicine that would still heal an ailing ape ten years after the last pharmacy closed. Or that Caesar could take a bullet to the shoulder, undergo surgery and still climb a ginormous tower AND fight Koba (which was one of Stalin’s names as a fugitive Bolshevik, Wiki says) to a win. And who was Dawn, anyway? Caesar’s wife? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-seen-it-open-spoilers/692892.md?page=2)