Written by: Kevin Berge
Anyone who still thinks they can mess with Caesar has not been paying attention. (Image Courtesy of: arstechnica.com)
Quick Take: War for the Planet of the Apes may just be the perfect conclusion to a consistently excellent trilogy with powerful emotional moments and an action-packed home stretch. With stellar acting and direction, this is an epic that cements Caesar's status among the great film characters and the trilogy among the best ever made.
Planet of the Apes Reviews: Rise | Dawn
***This review does not expect the viewer to have seen War for the Planet of the Apes yet; however, there will be spoilers for the previous two films. Do not read ahead if you plan to watch the series and do not want to be spoiled on crucial story points.***
Nothing says modern Hollywood like remake trilogy, milking a franchise name for all it is worth. However, this modern return to the Planet of the Apes has been anything but a cash-grab. This prequel trilogy, focusing on the virus that changed Earth and the rise of the first Caesar, has been one of the best film experiences of the modern era.
War for the Planet of the Apes is not just a smart finale for the series but its best chapter. Taking place at the heart of war as humans and apes battle for survival, this movie follows Caesar (Andy Serkis) as he fights The Colonel (Woody Harrelson), a dangerously motivated military leader.
On the surface, this is the simplest of the movies in the series. The apes are the heroes here while the humans are the villains. While The Colonel is not a one-note villain, he is certainly the representative for his race in this film, seeing all apes as animals who can be subjugated and used for manual labor.
Gone are the conflicts over deciding the futures of both races with this film basically deciding the fate of humanity officially, writing them off. The only "good" human we see is a young girl (Amiah Miller) the apes encounter early on in the tale and take on for protection.
This makes this a fairly straightforward morality tale with Caesar facing a vicious adversary who has no regard for him or anyone he holds dear. What makes it more interesting is the ghost of Koba. Throughout this film, Caesar is directly or indirectly reminded of his killing of Koba.
This whole war was started by Koba, forcing Caesar to face the potential of becoming exactly what made him kill Koba: vengeful. In this war, humanity pushes him and prods him with no sign of peace. Koba has forced him into a corner where he may be forced to put the lives of his people above the extinction of a species.
***This review does not expect the viewer to have seen War for the Planet of the Apes yet; however, there will be spoilers for the previous two films. Do not read ahead if you plan to watch the series and do not want to be spoiled on crucial story points.***
Nothing says modern Hollywood like remake trilogy, milking a franchise name for all it is worth. However, this modern return to the Planet of the Apes has been anything but a cash-grab. This prequel trilogy, focusing on the virus that changed Earth and the rise of the first Caesar, has been one of the best film experiences of the modern era.
War for the Planet of the Apes is not just a smart finale for the series but its best chapter. Taking place at the heart of war as humans and apes battle for survival, this movie follows Caesar (Andy Serkis) as he fights The Colonel (Woody Harrelson), a dangerously motivated military leader.
On the surface, this is the simplest of the movies in the series. The apes are the heroes here while the humans are the villains. While The Colonel is not a one-note villain, he is certainly the representative for his race in this film, seeing all apes as animals who can be subjugated and used for manual labor.
Gone are the conflicts over deciding the futures of both races with this film basically deciding the fate of humanity officially, writing them off. The only "good" human we see is a young girl (Amiah Miller) the apes encounter early on in the tale and take on for protection.
This makes this a fairly straightforward morality tale with Caesar facing a vicious adversary who has no regard for him or anyone he holds dear. What makes it more interesting is the ghost of Koba. Throughout this film, Caesar is directly or indirectly reminded of his killing of Koba.
This whole war was started by Koba, forcing Caesar to face the potential of becoming exactly what made him kill Koba: vengeful. In this war, humanity pushes him and prods him with no sign of peace. Koba has forced him into a corner where he may be forced to put the lives of his people above the extinction of a species.
Maurice and his new friend are too good for this world. (Image Courtesy of: digitalfox.media)
As always, Andy Serkis is electric as Koba, not asked to say much (though more than most the characters in this story) but express his tumultuous feelings through his facial expressions. The best performance from the rest of the apes comes from Steve Zahn (Dallas Buyers Club) playing newcomer Bad Ape, a hilarious showstealer.
It's nice to have the comic relief in a dark adventure tale driven by Woody Harrelson (No Country for Old Men) who plays a damaged and frightening man. His dynamic with Serkis is the heart of the film's drama and works consistently because you can feel both his respect and disdain for Caesar.
The master at the helm of this trilogy has been director Matt Reeves who added the extra dramatic weight to the series it needed in its second and now third installments. He shapes this final tale with an eye for the mythic, crafting the final chapter of Caesar as the true completion of his legend.
At every turn, we can see that Caesar has taken on a grand image among the apes, but he is still fundamentally flawed. He is a leader in crisis with some apes doubting him as Koba did. Here the story comes together to anoint him as the symbol of supremacy for the apes.
This is a primal tale that does live up to its war label even if it's more focused on the effects of such war than the actual conflicts. That's not to say though that there isn't war in the most direct sense here as well as there's plenty of gunfire and spear-throwing throughout.
If I have one minor fault with the film, it is that I have begun to notice more the faults in the CGI with the movie heavily driven by its effects. It likely was not any worse, maybe even better than its predecessors for effects, but watching them all together makes it easier to notice the faults in the computer generated images.
As a whole, this was exactly what I was looking for from the final tale of this series. Its story carries a variety of genres in order to tell a compelling layered tale over three films that may be the best blockbuster showcase of less is more with sparse dialogue used to capture a powerful story alongside affecting and grand imagery.
It's nice to have the comic relief in a dark adventure tale driven by Woody Harrelson (No Country for Old Men) who plays a damaged and frightening man. His dynamic with Serkis is the heart of the film's drama and works consistently because you can feel both his respect and disdain for Caesar.
The master at the helm of this trilogy has been director Matt Reeves who added the extra dramatic weight to the series it needed in its second and now third installments. He shapes this final tale with an eye for the mythic, crafting the final chapter of Caesar as the true completion of his legend.
At every turn, we can see that Caesar has taken on a grand image among the apes, but he is still fundamentally flawed. He is a leader in crisis with some apes doubting him as Koba did. Here the story comes together to anoint him as the symbol of supremacy for the apes.
This is a primal tale that does live up to its war label even if it's more focused on the effects of such war than the actual conflicts. That's not to say though that there isn't war in the most direct sense here as well as there's plenty of gunfire and spear-throwing throughout.
If I have one minor fault with the film, it is that I have begun to notice more the faults in the CGI with the movie heavily driven by its effects. It likely was not any worse, maybe even better than its predecessors for effects, but watching them all together makes it easier to notice the faults in the computer generated images.
As a whole, this was exactly what I was looking for from the final tale of this series. Its story carries a variety of genres in order to tell a compelling layered tale over three films that may be the best blockbuster showcase of less is more with sparse dialogue used to capture a powerful story alongside affecting and grand imagery.