War for the Planet of the Apes: Review

The original run of Planet of the Apes films from the 1960’s and 70’s were some of the most influential films of my childhood and even when I watch them today, the campy and pertinent charm still manages to shine through to this day. However, with this new rebooted series, I’ve found it harder to connect to Caesar's narrative, whether it be because of the particularly uninspired direction of Rise or the overall sense of familiarity and lack of subtlety in its sequel, Dawn. But now the final installment, War is here and much to my delight, it is the best of this updated trilogy.

Arriving in a summer that is filled with franchise/cinematic universe obsessed films, it feels quite refreshing that War is one that is beaming with a great and somber sense of humanity, empathy, and purpose. While we are clearly supposed to side with Caesar and his army of loyal apes, this film does a good job at making a case for the side of the human race, thankfully, the central conflict feels more complex and well-rounded than it did in Dawn. A lot of the depth in this film is mostly thanks to the performances, Andy Serkis yet again brings his mocap A-game (and this time, I’ll give it to him, he deserves some sort of award recognition) and Woody Harrelson gives a fine amount of unhinged gravitas to his character.

Thematically, this movie’s doesn’t come across as the most groundbreaking or original film but it at least has some powerful commentary on its mind to present. It’s nice to see a big budgeted blockbuster such as this one attempt to hold a mirror up to humanity and present some ideas that can leave the audience pondering after the credit roll. There’s an abundant amount of emotion present in this film as well and while it may not have hit me in the way that the film was clearly aiming to, I was glad to see something actually attempt to draw me close into its characters internal conflicts. Surprisingly, there is not a ton of action in this installment but whenever a battle sequence goes down, it is quite enthralling and the grand scope that they hold makes is worth the price of admission alone.

Intense, complex, emotional, and thoughtful, War for the Planet of the Apes will go down as one of the superior films of this summer. It ends this trilogy on the highest note and brings a satisfying closure to the story of Caesar. (8/10)