They say you save the best for last but this isn’t always the case with big movie franchises. After a great second installment, some film series drop the ball on the third act (Spider-Man 3, X-Men: The Last Stand and to a lesser extent, Return of the Jedi, have fallen victim to not quite living up to their predecessors. With the new version of the Planet of the Apes franchise, that trend has been defined and turned on its head. What started off very good with Rise of the Planet of the Apes and achieved near perfection with Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, concludes expertly with War for the Planet of the Apes. This isn’t your typical summer blockbuster and it continues a tone that was set with Logan earlier this year that proves big event films can also be poignant and thought-provoking.
Matt Reeves, who also directed Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, wasn’t content to simply let the movie play out as expected. We’ve known the end point for 50 years and the film pretty much gets us where we need to be so that if you popped in the 1968 version you could, for the most part, easily get back into the story. The easy, summer-friendly way to do things would have been to pit the dwindling human forces against the apes in a winner-take-all contest. That’s what the title implies and that’s what the marketing material suggests. But Reeves, who co-wrote the film with Mark Bomback, has much bigger intentions. Leaning heavily on the allegorical aspects of the series, he spins a tale that touches on racism, the evils of war, the dangers of obsession, the poison of revenge, and the importance of sacrifice. The movie is at times exciting (there are still plenty of battle scenes), occasionally funny (one character has been incorporated almost exclusively for comedic relief), and ultimately poignant and heartbreaking.
The story is told from the apes’ perspective which is why the human element, which tended to be the lone weak aspects of the first two films, doesn’t seem as glaring this time around. This is very much the apes’ film and the audience is better for it as the story from their perspective is far more interesting. It’s obvious from the early scenes that they are the protagonists and the humans are the villains. The primary antagonist, Woody Harrelson’s Colonel, is introduced obliquely and not given a full scene until the movie is a third of the way over. The main character is the ape Caesar (Andy Serkis), the leader who has for two movies sought peaceful coexistence with the humans. With his rival Koba (Toby Kebbell) now existing only in his nightmares, Caesar faces little opposition from within but the Colonel is bent on genocide. He will accept nothing less than the obliteration of the apes and his brutal tactics force Caesar to confront the darker aspects of his nature. Accompanied by two companions, Rocket (Terry Notary) and the orangutan Maurice (Karin Konoval), Caesar sets out on a suicide quest to track and kill the Colonel. Along the way, they are joined by an orphaned human girl, Nova (Amiah Miller), and a fearful loner who goes by the name of “Bad Ape” (Steve Zahn).
A lot has been said about the motion capture work done by Andy Serkis to bring Caesar to life. I feel like I can’t add much more to it than to simply reiterate that it’s a revelation. You never feel like you’re looking at a special effect. Caesar is just as real as the humans that inhabit the film and Serkis is the foundation that gives him all the depth and nuances that have made the character captivating to watch since the first film. If the Academy still doesn’t want to acknowledge motion capture work as a legit method of giving performances, then I’m all for him getting some kind of honorary award for his work because this is the best of the best.
On the human side of things, Woody Harrelson puts his natural likeability aside and gives a villain that is cold as ice. There is nothing approachable or friendly about his portrayal of the Colonel but thankfully the film doesn’t make him a one note villain. He has motivations behind his actions and this is usually something that could be missing from a film like this but the filmmakers are smart enough to even make someone as cold as him, a tad relatable.
The movie accomplishes the obligatory task of setting up Planet of the Apes– we can surmise that events here transpire about a dozen years prior to the original. Several characters from the 1968 film appear here in younger form: Cornelius (played in Planet of the Apes by Roddy McDowell) is an infant and Nova (Linda Harrison) is a young girl. War for the Planet of the Apes, like its predecessors, is primarily an original tale but takes elements from Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and Battle for the Planet of the Apes, the two 1970’s prequels. If you’re big on perfect continuity then you may find yourself a bit frustrated but it wasn’t a detriment for me.
Just a bit of a warning to people walking into this thinking it will offer typical summer movie fare, you won’t necessarily find that here. Although designed and positioned as summer escapism, War for the Planet of the Apes may surprise some with its seriousness and intensity. From the beginning, there’s a sense that dark things can happen…and they do. That’s not to say that the film is a relentless downer. It is first and foremost an adventure film and the PG-13 rating assures that the violence never becomes too extreme. This is a more adult movie than either of its immediate predecessors and parents should take note before bringing a child as well because I did notice that some kids seemed a bit upset during my screening.
Although this wraps up the prequel trilogy, I’m hearing murmurs that another film is looking to be commissioned. There is slight wiggle room to edge out another film before the events of the 1968 film but I honestly think that would be a mistake. Things end on a completely perfect note and it really cements itself as one of the greatest trilogies of all time with this latest installment. Those who may be worried about Matt Reeves taking on The Batman should rest easy because he’s clearly a force to be reckoned with. July has turned the summer movie season around in a big way and this is just added to the list of how you get the summer movie right without dumbing it down for the audience.
Reel Talk gives War for the Planet of the Apes 4 Reels
