Willow Maclay’s review published on Letterboxd:
okay so like im a little bit drunk so bear with me. dawn of the planet of the apes is totally serviceable in every way, serkis is really good and it's sometimes fun. But like what's the deal? this thing doesnt even pass the bechdel test and normally i dont give a damn because bechdel herself says the test was a lowest bar thing and then it got repurposed as the one thing you had to do for your film to be good for women. which is bullshit by the way because thats the whole point. it's the lowest possible bar. Do better. And as far as I remember apes doesn't even clear it. How many women apes were there total in this thing? like 3? the only thing a woman ape gets to do in this movie is give birth and nearly die. which is ridiculous considering the original 70s apes movies had like women ape scientists running around and shit. Then we get to the humans and they dont do any better either. poor Keri Russell has to live in a commune with a bunch of dudes with no women in sight. None that speak at least. I dunno guys, perfectly adequate movies getting praised to the heavens with like no female representation shouldn't be the norm. I don't really care if this is a geek property or whatever and deemed sufficiently male territory for most of the casting. Would it be too much to ask for something though? It's not like I went into it thinking it would rock my feminist world but it gets frustrating watching tentpole after tentpole being boys club movies. It's fine. I want something more. I hope i don't wake up with a hangover.