Report: 'Apes' Sequel Pushes Gun Control

Audiences will get more than a dystopian future when they line up to see Dawn of the Planet of the Apes next month.

The second film in the rebooted Planet of the Apes franchise reportedly packs a pro-gun control message, according to a new review of the film in Variety. The story also touches on environmental fear mongering, albeit in a reduced fashion compared to the first installment.

The “Apes” franchise has always been a politically loaded one, and this latest entry states its left-wing credo in ways both allegorically implicit and bluntly direct. (You’d have to be pretty obtuse to miss the pro-gun-control subtext attached to misdeeds on both sides of the man-monkey battle.) While the previous film functioned as something of a cautionary tale against man’s destructive meddling with his environment, “Dawn” apportions blame a little more equally, as the beasts (introduced in a thrilling, technically jaw-dropping faceoff against a grizzly bear) are shown to be no less reckless an influence on the biosphere than their former superiors. “I always think ape better than human,” Caesar admits to Malcolm, his speech patterns having evolved rather rapidly even over the course of this film. “I see now how like them we are.” It’s a reverse epiphany that would have Jane Goodall in tears.

The upcoming film is set roughly a decade after the 2011 hit which showed how the franchise’s genetically engineered apes came to be.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes opens nationwide July 11.