This is my first reaction to the movie based on the notion that I presume the makers have picked up on the underlying political satire of the originals.
I must say that having seen the movie just recently and am still trying to settle on a the political interpretation. The plot of the movie revolves around human survivors of a global plague facing their primitive ape counterparts in a stand of for an energy source in form of a dam that is located inside ape territory. My first interpretation was to see the parallels to a „western world“ securing „their“ oil in a foreign country of the arab world. If one takes this interpretation the humans represent the „civilised world“ with dependency on oil to keep the culture running. The apes would be the not as advanced arabs with their tribes and basic lifestyle. In the movie it get’s stated the „advantage“ of the apes is that they don’t need energy. Also one could see the scarred ape Kooba with his deep hatred towards humans representing the radicalized arabs being used and then condemned. One could interpret the conflict between Kooba and Caesar as the inner conflicts between the moderate and radical strains of Islamist in the arab world. Also there is a parallel of a creating war from an incident by using the irrational momentum that could be seen as a parallel to the Iraq war.
This is very simplified and maybe a bit far-fetched as the movie is on its surface the Sci-Fi movie one expects and the interpretations only emerge subcutaneous.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a 2014 American science fiction action film directed by Matt Reeves and written by Mark Bomback and the writing team of Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. The sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), it is the second installment in the Planet of the Apes reboot film series and the eighth film overall. It stars Andy Serkis as Caesar, alongside Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Toby Kebbell, and Kodi Smit-McPhee. The film takes place 10 years after the events of Rise and follows a group of human survivors as they battle to stay alive in the wake of a deadly pandemic, while Caesar tries to maintain control over his expanding ape community which could lead to an all-out war between apes and humans.
A sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes was announced in 2011, with the return of both Serkis and Rupert Wyatt confirmed that November. Wyatt departed the film in September 2012, and Reeves was hired as his replacement that October. Casting took place between February and March 2013, with none of the additional original main cast members returning. Principal photography commenced that April and lasted until that July, with filming locations including...
Definition from Wikipedia – Dawn of the Planet of the Apes