<P> Will Rodman, a scientist at the San Francisco biotech company Gen - Sys, is testing the viral - based drug ALZ - 112 on chimpanzees to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease . ALZ - 112 is given to a chimp named Bright Eyes, greatly increasing her intelligence . But then, during Will's presentation for the drug, Bright Eyes is forced from her cage, goes on a rampage, and is shot to death . Will's boss Steven Jacobs terminates the project and has the chimps slaughtered . However, Will's assistant Robert Franklin discovers that the reason for Bright Eyes' rampage was that she had recently given birth to an infant chimp . Will reluctantly agrees to take in the chimp, who is named Caesar . Will learns that Caesar has inherited his mother's intelligence and decides to raise him . Three years later, Will introduces Caesar to the redwood forest at Muir Woods National Monument . Meanwhile, Will treats his dementia - suffering father Charles with ALZ - 112, which seems to restore his cognitive ability . </P> <P> Five years later, when Caesar reaches adolescence and sees a dog on a leash like his own, he questions his identity and learns of his origins from Will . Meanwhile, Charles's condition returns as he becomes resistant to ALZ - 112 . Caesar injures a neighbor, Douglas Hunsiker, while defending a confused Charles . As a result, he is placed in a primate shelter where he is tormented by a chimp named Rocket and the chief guard, Dodge Landon, but also where he befriends an orangutan named Maurice who came from a circus . Caesar learns how to unlock his cage, gaining free access to the common area . With the assistance of a gorilla named Buck, he confronts the sanctuary's alpha, Rocket and claims that position . Meanwhile, Jacobs clears development of a more powerful, gaseous version of the drug--ALZ - 113--when Will tells him it can also improve intelligence . Will takes the drug home to try to save his father, but Charles declines further treatment and dies overnight . </P> <P> After attempting to test the drug on a scarred bonobo test subject named Koba, Franklin becomes exposed to ALZ - 113 and becomes ill . Attempting to warn Will at his home, he sneezes blood onto Hunsiker and is later discovered dead . Will attempts to reclaim Caesar, but the chimp refuses to go home with him so he could look after the other apes . Instead, he escapes from the facility and returns to Will's house, where he takes canisters of the ALZ - 113 . Upon returning, Caesar releases the gas and allows it to enhance the intelligence of the other apes . When Dodge attempts to get him back into his cage, Caesar speaks for the first time, yelling "No!" and gets in a fight which inadvertently leads to Dodge's death . The apes flee the facility, release the remaining chimps from Gen - Sys, and free more apes from the San Francisco Zoo on the way . </P> <P> A battle ensues as the ape army fights their way past a police blockade on the Golden Gate Bridge to escape into the redwood forest . Buck sacrifices himself to save Caesar by jumping into the helicopter in which Jacobs is riding . The helicopter crashes onto the bridge, trapping Jacobs in the wreckage . Koba seizes his chance for revenge and sends Jacobs falling to his death in the bay below . </P>

The virus in rise of the planet of the apes