War For The Planet Of The Apes

Ever more convoluted and misleading titles withstanding, the Planet Of The Apes reboot/prequel/side-story trilogy must go down as one of the best, and most surprising at that, series of recent times.

A daring venture after the failed sequels, remakes, TV shows and pastiches (The Simpsons parody is still the absolute best: “I can SING!”) this modern retelling, lovingly crafted, makes you long for Matt Reeves to give a proper remake of the original a go.

Trilogy closer War For The Planet Of The Apes brings Caesar’s journey to its logical end point, you can almost imagine Charlton Heston crash landing at the climax, and caps off how the apes usurped their human counterparts.

Daringly (again after the time gap between Rise and Dawn) we again skip two years at the film’s commencement. You’ll remember Gary Oldman’s sanctuary leader making contact with a squad of soldiers at the end of the last film; here those soldiers have spent the intervening time hunting Caesar and systematically killing off, and even recruiting for their own benefit, the apes.

A fantastic opening sequence brings us into the thick of the battle. Plenty of Vietnam war movie references here and beautiful cinematography as we’re thrown into the thick of the fighting. It climaxes [SPOILER ALERT] with the death of Caesar’s wife and eldest son and it’s from there that the film segues into a revenge thriller with Caesar out for vengeance on Woody Harrelson's psycho Colonel (in a typically fantastic performance.)

It’s important to make clear that War is not a war movie. It, in fact, is many things. Thriller, action, drama and escape film (The Great Esc-Ape as one review hilariously puts it) and modern marketing may again, like La La Land before it, leave people with a twinge of disappointment that the trailer makes this out to be a different film entirely.

This series though, and the franchise generally, has never been about the conflict between the humans and apes; you know that, in the end, the apes do win after all. Instead, it’s about character-driven story, throughout the trilogy it is clear the hero characters are Caesar and the apes, we root for them to win.

Speaking about the original, there are some fantastic tethers thrown in by Reeves to pay homage to, and also make logical, tangible connection to the first. We get a well-devised explanation as to why the humans lose their ability to speak, as well as the introduction of two very famous characters: Cornelius and Nova. I feel, personally, that Reeves misses a trick with the ending by not offering a tantalising glimpse of the Statue of Liberty but I understand the decision taken to not do this.

More apes are introduced in this film and Reeves even allows a little light into proceedings with zoo ape ‘Bad Ape’ (complete with bobble hat) who brings levity to every scene he’s in, like a marginally less-annoying Dobby.

It’s Caesar again who shines (literally, thanks to the once again mind-boggling special effects that see water, snow and wind affect his fur) and Andy Serkis, in his second ape performance of the year after Kong: Skull Island, deserves plenty of praise. His journey feels earned, the audience never questioning his motives or decisions. You hang on his every line, delivered again in that menacing Yoda-doing-an-impression-of-the-Godfather voice.

A slow paced and old-fashioned film bringing a close to a fantastic trilogy. Proper Blockbuster film making and an example of a series where you can’t pick distinctively between the films as to which is best.

4 stars ****