Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) — watch online on iFILM. A decade after the simian flu reshaped the world, Caesar's ape colony holds the forests outside San Francisco while a ragged band of human survivors tries to keep the lights on. Director Matt Reeves — later behind War for the Planet of the Apes and The Batman — turns a blockbuster sequel into something closer to a cold-war parable.

Andy Serkis carries the film through motion capture, and Caesar has never felt more conflicted. Jason Clarke plays Malcolm, an engineer willing to negotiate; Gary Oldman is the human leader running out of patience; Toby Kebbell's Koba is the one who can't forgive and won't forget. The fragile truce they build in the first half makes the collapse in the second hit harder than any action sequence.

20th Century Fox produced this as the centerpiece of the reboot trilogy, and it still stands as the most nuanced entry — a story about two sides that want peace and the few individuals on each side who guarantee there won't be any. Stream Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) full movie online on iFILM.