Harry Situation Reviews: War for the Planet of the Apes
You maniacs! You blew it up! God damn you all to hell...
...Is what I would say if this movie sucked, but luckily it didn't!
War for the Planet of the Apes is the final installment in the reboot/prequel Planet of the Ape film series, and hands down one of the best conclusions to a trilogy. Apes and humans are at war now. Caesar (played and motion-captured by the legendary Andy Serkis) must battle for his species against a tyrannical leader (played by Woody Harrelson). Who will come up on top? Humans or apes? Who will become the dominant species.
I'm a huge fan of Planet of the Apes. It's one of my favorite film series to date. Sure some are corny but they're enjoyable, except the shitty Tim Burton remake. But lately this new series has been raking in the dough with a film series that is down to earth and action packed.
First of all the motion capture for these films always seems to get better after each movie, and this one is no exception. The apes look alive. I didn't see actors or computer generated images. I saw real apes.
But that helps when you have talented actors behind the apes. Andy Serkis, man. He's the freaking king of motion capture performances. Give that man an Oscar already. Not only that he helps portray Caesar, in this film, as a flawed hero. Ultimately he's out on a quest for revenge, and that revenge and hate consumes him to a point that he is blinded by it. In fact he starts becoming more like Koba, the main evil ape, from the last film.
Woody Harrelson was also freaking amazing as the main antagonist of this film. Out of all the human characters in each film there weren't too many that were considered interesting. That is until Woody Harrelson. You kinda get where he's coming from, but at the same time you see him as the Darwinist madman that he is.
I loved the throwbacks to the original films too. They made it feel that the film came full circle. I love it when a movie does that. I won't spoil one of the biggest throwbacks because it actually ties into the original films, and I thought that was very clever how that was set up.
To label this as an action film would be misleading. There are only a couple of small action sequences in this movie, but overall this movie is drama centered. The drama is played pretty well. When Caesar finds the human camp and finds a bunch of apes as prisoners, it sorta resembles something from the Holocaust. It turns to be a very dark film.
Overall pretty awesome movie! The only complaints that I felt I had was that it felt a little short to me. I don't know, I wouldn't mind if the film was a little longer but the run time didn't hurt the movie in any way.
Prosers, this is one helluva conclusion to a fantastic trilogy. The directing, done by Matt Reeves, is great. The writing, acting, visuals are all great. If you're a fan of Planet of the Apes, or just want to check it out, definitely check it out!
APES! TOGETHER! STRONG!
Positives: Negatives:
-Andy Serkis -Felt a little short
-Outstanding effects
-Directing
-Drama driven
-Throwbacks
-Powerful conclusion
Final Grade: A
What made watching this film even better was that I got to see it with my dad. My dad and I have pretty much made it a tradition seeing each Planet of the Apes movie since Rise back in 2011.
So there's my review of War for the Planet of the Apes. Have you seen it? What are your thoughts? Please be kind, leave a like and comment, and check back for more Harry Situation Reviews!
Best Quote:
The Colonel: "All of human history has lead to this moment. The irony is we created you. And nature has been punishing us ever since. This is our last stand. And if we lose... it will be a Planet of Apes."
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