War for the Planet of the Apes is an action/drama film directed by Matt Reeves, and is the third and possibly final installment in the Planet of the Apes reboot series of films. The film stars Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Steve Zahn, Amiah Miller, Karin Konoval and Terry Notary. The plot follows Caesar, as he fears an inevitable war between humans and apes. Fearing the loss of his fellow apes, he begins to seek refuge in a new area outside of the woods, but is challenged by his past and a new enemy.
Wow. I’m not gonna lie to you all, this is a hard movie to watch. I say that in the best of ways as I still enjoyed this film, but man was it an emotional roller coaster. I will say that as this film presents some extremely deep concepts, it ultimately ends up being more of drama than action film like the title suggests. With that being said, this film completes (as of now) one of the best film trilogies to date, and is another film that stands above the rest.
So lets start off this review with the most mind blowing element in this film.. its visuals. Jesus, if this film does not win the best visual effects Oscar, I’m going to be pissed. I was honestly blown away by what they were able to do with this film as I couldn’t believe my eyes. Like, they either got apes to talk or had amazing prosthetics that I’m too stupid to understand, because that was by far the most believable CGI I have ever seen to date. Even better than Doctor Strange in my opinion. It not once took me out of the film, and honestly blew my mind. I’m sorry if I sound like I’m gushing.. this film deserves it.
Not only have the visual effects been a key to this series success, but also its characters. Andy Serkis kills it again, and his performance of Caesar is both amazing and Oscar worthy. His character progression in this story is a lot more conflicting, and his actions are more well thought out as his character has become wiser over the years. His progression from each film is beautiful as this film marks an aging version of the ape we’ve all come to love. Karin Konoval as Maurice was fantastic as always, and Steve Zahn was absolutely amazing in his role as Bad Ape. Although Bad Ape was added mainly for comedic purposes, he was still an awesome character and had the theater rolling with some of the most memorable lines. The only real issue I had with characters was Woody Harrelson, as his portrayal and character didn’t seem as convincing as previous villains in this Planet of the Apes series.
Although I really enjoyed this film, there were plenty of issues I had with it. The marketing for this movie is completely wrong, as it is more of a drama than an action film. Sure there are a few battles and such within the movie, but this isn’t really a humans vs. apes kind of film like its marketing suggests. Another issue I had with the film was its runtime. I usually don’t mind long films, but my god this was a long one. There were plenty of scenes that didn’t need to be in the film, and a lot of the development that happens either takes too long or isn’t long enough. I won’t spoil anything with names, but someone dies in this movie, and although it is supposed to be heartfelt, it isn’t as the character’s progression and allocated screentime just wasn’t enough to pull emotion from me or the audience. So yeah, spoiler alert, a movie about war includes death.
Another issue this film had was its comedic relief and pacing. It kinda relates to the paragraph above, but this was an extremely serious film. Because of that the tone is always very dark, and the slow pacing of the plot just drags the movie forward. With that issue you could tell they needed some sort of relief for the audience in the form of a character, that being Bad Ape. Although his moments were extremely funny and memorable, he didn’t really provide a good character arc, and didn’t accomplish much while on screen. It almost felt like it was too heavily forced on the audience as they knew that they needed more lighthearted moments.
Before wrapping up my review, I did want to mention that this film did an elegant job at referencing the original Planet of the Apes (1968) or setting itself up for another series of films post this trilogy. Like holy crap the references were absolute gold, and made the original film worth another watch. I enjoyed the film that much more for this piece alone, and I suggest that anyone that plans on seeing this movie take the time to watch the original 1968 film before hand. You won’t regret it.
In close, War for the Planet of the Apes was a good film that provided some of the best CGI I have ever seen, and some of the best characters out of any series. Although it is a great addition to the already great series, it is probably my least favorite movie out of the three as its long runtime, weird pacing, and mediocre villain aren’t as memorable as the ones that came before it. I decided to give War for the Planet of the Apes a “Good” on theVade Review Bar, as it is a solid film in a fantastic trilogy. Although this is a movie titled “War” it features very little of it, and its marketing is very deceptive, but what it makes up for in references, characters, and CGI is worth the watch, and worth the wait for a future Planet of the Apes remake.
