Harry's Dilemma *SPOILER*

Drew Briski
Undergraduate/Geography

For those of you who know nothing about the newest Planet of the Apes movie, I have compiled a complete plot synopsis with terms and names that are easy to recognize.

Once Harry Osborn made enough money doing whatever it is he was doing while in New York, he decided enough was enough and moved from New York to San Francisco to live with his grandfather after he couldn't get over the fact that his dad was really killed (or one could say for "personal reasons"). While there, he decided to expand his future and went to med school to become a doctor. After receiving his degree he quickly received a job at Gen-Sys where he designs new medical drugs and quickly becomes one of their best employees.

Harry has been working on a cure for Alzheimer's named ALZ 112 in an attempt to cure his grandfather. The drug is tested on apes and one ape in particular, Bright Eyes, has shown remarkable brain growth and increased intelligence. Harry is given a chance to show off the ape to a board of executives so he can begin testing ALZ 112 on humans. Bright Eyes was supposed to be shown to the board as part of the presentation but the handlers, who shouldn't have been hired due to their obvious lack of experience, didn't realize the ape had just given birth. Their mishandling of the ape seems to make it go crazy and break away from the handlers. The ape continues to rampage through the building eventually getting into the board room and disrupting the meeting in turn ruining Harry's future research with the drug. The ape is then shot multiple times then it is later found out that the ape wasn't crazy but rather being protective of its newborn.

Jacobs, Harry's boss, tells the person in charge of the apes to have them all put down. He neutralizes all but the newborn. He sees Harry walking in and tells him to put it down if he wants or he will call a sanctuary in a few days (the handler never calls the sanctuary). Harry brings the ape home and his grandpa names it Caesar. Harry was told to stop testing the ALZ 112 but it was still being made in the lab so he stole it and continued testing on Caesar at his home. Caesar shows tremendous intelligence and is years beyond any human of the same age in brain maturity.

After a while, Harry decides to use the ALZ 112 on his grandpa who shows a tremendous recovery from Alzheimer's but after a few short years his body quickly fights off the cure and he's hit even harder with more Alzheimer's. One day, his grandpa walks outside and sees a black car that happens to be unlocked and has the keys in it because the owner is an idiot. Grandpa starts the car and hits the car in front and the one behind the car he's driving. The owner of the car finally shows up and chews out grandpa. Caesar sees the whole thing from his window and gets out of the house then goes ape-shit on the neighbor. Caesar eventually bites off the guy's finger just like Gollum did to Frodo in Mount Doom. Caesar is taken by the animal patrol and is finally sent to a sanctuary.

In the sanctuary, Caesar is not well liked by the other apes. Draco Malfoy, after not being able to get a job with his degree from Hogwarts, is one of the handlers in the sanctuary (it seems this economy hits everyone hard). Draco isn't very good at his job because he continually mistreats the apes and the other guy doesn't do anything better (or it could be he was never told not to act that way (good going Dumbledore)). Caesar meets a circus orangutan that also knows ASL. They begin flashing signs at each other to communicate and they develop a strong bond. Caesar eventually gains the trust of the other apes by giving them cookies and making fun of the handlers.

Back at Harry's house, since his grandpa had shown signs getting better after taking the drug, Jacobs tells Harry to continue researching the drug. Harry develops a new formula he calls ALZ 113 which is now a gas instead of a liquid and there is no reason given for why, but it's a movie and they can do what they want (that's just poor writing). The ALZ 113 is tested on an ape and everyone in the room is told to put their masks on, but the handler who was supposed to put down all the apes in the beginning but didn't, didn't have his mask on even though he said he did. The mask on the ape slipped while the ALZ 113 was being applied and the handler inhaled some of it and he began to feel sick. This leads to the eventual collapse and near extinction of the human species (did I just spoil the end? Oh well, you're only a few paragraphs away from being done). Harry continues to break multiple security procedures and steals some of the ALZ 113 to use on his grandpa who by now is almost dead. That night Harry is about to give his grandpa a dose of it, his grandpa says no and dies in the morning.

Harry keeps the ALZ 113 in his fridge instead of returning it, and Caesar manages to break out of the sanctuary and get into Harry's house and happens to understand what the ALZ 113 is and takes it with him back to the sanctuary and sprays it everywhere making the ape's brains grow and increase in intelligence overnight.

The apes must have seen the news of the riots in England and decided that might work for them. The apes decide they have had enough of Draco and the other handler and decide to tell them what's up. Caesar kills Draco by spraying him with a hose while Draco is holding a stun baton and is electrocuted (I don't know why Draco didn't use any spells against the apes, he could have beaten them quickly). The other handler is just set inside of a cage and is found the next day. He explains that the apes broke out of the sanctuary and that Caesar said, "NO!" Harry is now concerned that the apes will cause even more damage.

Caesar leads the apes to the Gen-Sys labs and they tear the place apart. Jacobs walks into what looks to be an empty cafeteria. The apes begin chasing him out of there but he's able to get away and outside, but for some reason the apes don't follow him. Caesar then brings the apes to the Golden Gate Bridge and plans to take them across the bridge and into the redwood forest where Caesar was taken when he was younger. On the bridge there is a small gunfight between the cops and the apes but the National Guard isn't called in (must have been their week off). One of the apes, Buck, a silver back, takes out a helicopter in order for the apes to get across the bridge and in doing so he is killed. The helicopter crashes on the edge of the bridge and another ape pushes it off while Jacobs is pleading for help. He dies in the impact with the water. The apes eventually arrive in the forest. Harry shows up and wants Caesar to come back home with him when Caesar says he is home.

The story is almost done. The handler who inhaled the ALZ 113 turned out to be really sick and started coughing up blood. Instead of seeing a doctor he runs to Harry's house to tell him about it but instead runs into Harry's nosey neighbor who had his finger bitten off by Caesar. The handler coughs on the neighbor and runs away. The handler dies a few days later. It turns out the neighbor is a pilot so he spreads the disease around in the airport and it goes all over the world and nearly every human dies minus a select few who are immune.