War for the Planet of the Apes - Review
I have a confession to make: I've never seen Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Yes I know that is a travesty and I should be yelled at incessantly for this fact, but that doesn't make me discredit these films in any sense. While these films were never at the top of my priority list to see, there is something beautiful about being in this world and with a character like Caesar. War for the Planet of the Apes, while not better than Dawn, is a fitting conclusion to Caesar and the apes' story.
Let's make this known from the beginning: this movie is gorgeous. I touched on it in the introduction but I just have to take some time to truly gush about this. I have no idea how exactly it is done but the life-like animals in these movies always look stunning and I find it nearly impossible to accept that they are anything other than real and that there is some place out there with hyper-intelligent apes. You can see every last hair on each ape's body, and their facial features are absolutely brilliant. I don't believe I am going to get much in the way of people disagreeing with me when I say that Caesar is the best CGI character ever put to screen.
If you were to go into this movie with no idea of anything related to the plot you'd most likely assume that the apes are the villains of the movie. The truth of the matter my fellow humans is this: we are the enemy. Caesar and his group of hyper-intelligent apes want to leave their forest fortress in hopes of finding peace somewhere else, but humanity seeks only to eliminate them. After humanity takes his family away Caesar is set on a path of destruction to find the man who murdered them and seek vengeance. Along with some of the more notable apes throughout this series, he goes hunting. Those of you who know the character of Caesar are probably confused as to why he does this, and Caesar himself deals with this feeling of seeking revenge throughout the entire movie. Whether it be through flashbacks to past events or others telling him he reminds them of their past foes, Caesar struggles with why he is taking this path.
Outside the character of Caesar, who is without a doubt the signature player in this story, the story takes a rather generic formula. While I won't spoil the entire plot of the film I will say that the story here goes in the direction you expect it to. The only difference here is that while you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, you don't expect the twists that occur before the end and those are what make this movie go from good to great. I found myself multiple times throughout the movie actually floored with what happened throughout and having to pause to think of what just happened.
With all of this praise around War for the Planet of the Apes, I have to talk about my own true negative with this movie. Whether it is viewed as a large or small negative depends on the person. This movie feels like a misdirection. All of the marketing for this film teased a large scale war between humans and apes, and to be frank that isn't what happens. While what does happen is absolutely great I can't help but feel there was a missed opportunity for a different story to be told here. But again I will state, what did come was not a disappoint.
In conclusion, War for the Planet of the Apes is an excellent send off for this fantastic ape. Caesar has dealt with many hardships throughout these films and while I will miss Andy Serkis' excellent performances as the ape, I believe this left him in the right place. All he wanted was a better future for his family and friends, he didn't mean for this war to begin in the first place and simply wanted it to end. Go check out this movie, but if you haven't seen this movie I highly recommend you go back and watch the other two movies in this excellent trilogy before coming to the great finale that this film is.
