Starring: Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson,
Written By:
Directed By: Matt Reeves
Budget:
Naming the Planet of the Apes has always been a tricky proposition resulting in mouthfuls of adjunctive words. Nowadays, we simply refer to the unique term in its title and after the Rise, and the Dawn, now is the time for the cumulation of the trilogy in War. Previous titles were permitted a touch a vagueness as what a “Rise” or “Dawn” of an Ape is can be debated but calling an outing War for anything is front loading audience expectations. Be forewarned, if you were expecting the final act of Dawn to be the model for this films War narrative, you may leave underwhelmed. An argument can be made that the promotional material is more than a little misleading, but again are hamstrung by the title to show you War.
Instead of being the final show down between the apes burgeoning civilisation and the remnants of the US armed forces, this is an intimate tale of a weary warrior on a personal quest for vengeance. And as that kind of film, it succeeds, if not a tad too predictably. After the human forces, led by the crazy-but-not-wrong Woody Harrelson as the nameless “Colonel”, attempt to assassinate Caesar resulting in dramatic losses for the Apes, the whole civilisation makes way for new land across a dessert (wink wink, Icarus landing sight) as Caesar tracks the Colonel to exact revenge, reflecting on his nature as a primitive ape conflicting with his hopes of creating a civilisation. With that plot, I suppose “Introspective Revenge Journey for the Planet of the Apes” could have been a more accurate title but is more difficult to promote.
The first thing, as is now tradition with the apes films, to discuss is the special effects. So good are they now that so of the Gorillas and Orangutans look as real as anything in the film. Never looking out of place or like a special effect, the digital maestros at WETA have never produced more convincing models. More than that, the face capturing of the actor’s performances has surely now become good enough to be considered actual acting by the damnable Academy. The subtle flickers of emotions in just a lip twitch or facial muscles tensing up that are captured makes the interpersonal relations between the apes more believable and relatable than ever before. When loss strikes the ape home, the reaction by the likes of Andy Serkis (rightly revered by most for his motion capture) elevates the moment from CG puppets imitating human emotions to feeling like apes truly distraught and angry.
The film, initially, present both Caesar and The Colonel as villains in each other stories; Caesar the figurehead of the human’s extinction event and The Colonel as the force impeding the apes development. The film obviously leans more behind the apes as time goes on leading to some shades of the conflict being pasted over entirely, becoming a more black and white conflict. The Colonel though isn’t painted entirely as a force of evil (mostly) doing anything to ensure the survival of his species, with apes carriers of a plague that either kills humans or, as we learn, regresses their development.
In the 60’s original, Humans had lost the capability of speech at some point in the apes rise, which marked Heston as special. Here, we finally see the Simian Flu evolve by devolving human’s vocal capabilities and higher functions – completing the transition to an underclass in the new world. It seems the humans can’t catch a break, having billions die by the initial flu, then more in the implied ensuing conflict to finally be settling down and organising again only to have the flu take away the brain power that defines them, is bad luck to say the least. Aware that they are fighting complete extinction has The Colonel in a desperate situation that Harrelson manages to convey well in a role that in lesser hands could have become a little goofy. As a counter balance to the primitive side of man shown by the Colonel, Caesar takes up care of young girl affected by the new symptoms of the Flu. Her kindness and vulnerability bring out the best in the apes around her, showing a tragic glimpse to a future that will never be with apes and humans living in harmony.
Without going in to spoiler territory it is almost impossible to comment further, sufficed to say that if you alter your expectations away from an all out conflict and to a more Logan-esque personal journey type story this will serve as a satisfying, if maybe predictable, conclusion to the Caesar/Apes Trilogy. Given the quality of each instalment it will surely go down as one the best trilogies in recent times and, probably, way better than the reboot/sequel/re-quel that they (inevitably) made next.