'War for the Planet of the Apes' Review

'War for the Planet of the Apes' is the last film in the trilogy telling the origin of the world of the 1968 'Planet of the Apes' film. It is impossible to talk about this franchise without first mentioning the CGI. 'Planet of The Apes' has come a long way even from the start of the trilogy in 2011. This was a stunning film to watch and one that I would actually recommend watching in 3D. Usually, I don't notice 3D in films much but this film did an excellent job with the effects 3D could bring it, although this started to fade later on. As this is the last film in the trilogy there is not much else to say without going into spoilers. I would highly recommend checking out the film and then come back and finish reading the rest of my review.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

The story picks off a few months after the events of the last film. Koba (Toby Kebbell), has successfully started a war between the humans and Caesar's (Andy Serkis) clan. The apes are in hiding and live in constant fear of the humans finding them. That being said I felt as though the first half of the film was definitely the weaker part. In fact, the makers of the film could probably have cut the first half an hour down to five minutes. In what was already a long film the introduction and first act seemed to drag on. The movie offers no real recap of how we got to this point other than a few lines of text and viewers who had no knowledge of the franchise would be lost if this was the first film they saw. The only real events that happen within the first quarter are that Caesar's family die, except Cornelius, the apes plan to move to the desert, and we are introduced to our villain, The Colonel (Woody Harrelson). Firstly, the film could have started with the apes already travelling to the desert and we are told either through dialogue or flashbacks what happened to get them to this point. We did not even have to see Caesar's family die or The Colonel on screen. Instead, the film makers could have done something similar to 'Logan' where we only find out about this event later in the movie, like Charles killing the X-Men. This may be a personal criticism but if the first half an hour of the movie was cut down it would have made room for other scenes in the movie which the movie could have included for clarification. 

Speaking of Logan, my second criticism of the first half of the movie is that it was very similar to it. Our aged war-torn hero, who is battling with the loss of the people closest to him, journeys to find a form of 'Eden', taking a little, but still very primitive, girl, who is later named Nova (Amaih Miller), with him. Luckily the film did go its own way once Caesar got to the Military base, but the first half was a little too similar for my liking.

This brings us on to one of the many themes conveyed in this movie, hope. Specifically, hope through the younger generations of both human and apes. This is conveyed in a variety of ways throughout the film. Obviously, we have the afore mentioned Cornelius, who symbolises hope for the apes. Nova emblemises promise for a coexistence between the apes and the humans. We also see the theme of hope displayed through both of our protagonist, Caesar, and our antagonist, The Colonel. Both have had their hope taken away when their children were killed by the other species and both seek revenge on the other for causing it. Their missions are both suicidal as neither wants to return to the world without optimism after facing down the other. This can be seen as Caesar does not plan to return to his tribe just as the colonel limits his chance at survival by killing the apes out of blood lust when he needs them to help him survive an incoming attack from other humans.

Nova also seems to symbolise the end of humanity, her name harking to a supernova or the death of a star. Her name is taken from the debris of a car, a human creation. It is interesting that she can symbolise hope and innocence whilst also be acting as a 'plague carrier' to the humans. In this film, we discover that the virus which gave the apes their sentience and was also responsible for killing most of the humans has returned as is turning the humans into more primitive animals by taking away their ability to speak. As soon as she walked into the base I knew that they were going to be infected

It is when The Colonel has introduced in the military base that the major theme of the film becomes apparent. The film continues the trilogies use of biblical similarities. Both Caesar and The Colonel see themselves as messiahs. The Colonel's room is full of religious imagery like crosses on the walls. Caesar, however, is the one that is tied to a sideways cross when he attempts to stand up for his people. 

The film also continues the theme of man versus nature. The Colonel says that humans tried to control nature and they were punished for it. This is seen when the humans are eventually destroyed from an avalanche caused by their oil exploding.

We also see these ideas tied to themes of Americanism and independence. The film reflects a major aspect of the current president’s campaign, a wall. The Colonel thinks he can protect himself and his people from outsiders by building a wall and he expects people he deems degenerate to build it. His soldiers sing the American national anthem at the start of every day as he stands above them in an image that is reminiscent of the Pope standing on the balcony at Vatican City. At the end of the film, the apes break out of their cages, shattering this perceived 'independence' and 'freedom' as we see the American flag burning. This is similar to the original theme as we see The Statue of Liberty, another symbol of independence and freedom, half buried in the sand.

I enjoyed the comic relief created through the character of 'Bad Ape' (Steve Zahn). It was enough that the film was not too serious but so that the comedy did not become overwhelming. In particular when we first meet him and he is running back and forth to try and get Caesar to stay with him.

I knew Caesar was going to die from the start of the movie. As this was going to be the last film in the trilogy they needed a way to tie off his story line so he could in no way appear in the original. By the last quarter of the movie, I was expecting everything to kill him, when he didn't kill the Colonel but instead put the gun down next to him, I thought he was going to shoot Caesar. Then I thought the explosions would kill him, or the avalanche but in the end death came through an arrow fired by one of the soldiers. This was a little underwhelming but I wasn't objectionable as it leads to a more emotional final scene between Caesar and his apes.

As far as casting goes, I feel as though the film did a good job with its new characters, Obviously, most of the characters had already been cast in previous films, but the new ones in this film, like Woody Harrelson really made it shine even more.

To conclude ‘War of the Planet of the Apes’ was a fantastic end to a trilogy that has been in the works for five years. It’s conveyance of themes and excellent use of both comedy and tragedy make it a must see, even if it does drag on in places. One thing I am confused about, however, is how the statue of liberty came to be buried in sand in Cornelius's life time. I don’t think we will ever get closure on this but this is only one loose end in an otherwise flawless movie.

Thanks for reading this far, as always feel free to leave a comment on what you thought of the movie as well as any ideas on things you think I should review next time. If you want me to do more reviews like this in the future then let me know down in the comments and be sure to share this post on social media. Also, I won’t be posting anything for at least another two weeks as I am going to Italy. Hopefully, I will have something up when I get back though.