War for the Planet of the Apes

On this movie I have to get a couple of things out of the way straight away. First, the movie title and the blurb is hyperbole that has little to do with actual events in the movie. This is not some great war but just some silly little three way skirmish between some apes and two human factions. Second, the story for this movie is clearly written by someone who has an agenda and that agenda includes preaching how bad the white man is. Not surprisingly the result is bland, boring, frustrating and not very entertaining. I thought Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was mildly entertaining. Mostly due to the special effects. I thought Rise of the Planet of the Apes was okay. Again due to the special effects and because it had a fair amount of action. War for the Planet of the Apes do have decent special effects but nothing else. Add the obvious political agenda and the movie goes straight into a nose dive. The humans in the movie are stereotypical bad people and the apes are victims whether they are actually good apes or just asshole apes. There’s some decent action in the beginning and some at the end. In between we are “treated” to a slew of emotional scenes (or at least I suppose that’s what they were supposed to be) were Ceasars grief and the evil of man are force fed down our throats. Not surprisingly the movie ends, which it of course do not do until all humans in sight are killed off for no good reason, with the apes finding their little part of heaven all shown in warm and rosy colors. Close curtain…thank good! I was not expecting much from this movie but this was a typical Hollywood-with-an-agenda-movie. That is, not a good movie as far as I am concerned.

The relentless battles between apes and mankind are taking their toll, and forcing Caesar and his followers into the frozen wilderness where they encounter the megalomanic "Colonel" (Woody Harrelson). Tragically, coming off the worst at this meeting, the apes end up imprisoned by their new, ruthless, human masters - aided and abetted by some gorillas too - and used as little better than slaves. Adding to their woes, both sides know that an impending visit by some heavily armed troops is not in either of their interests! It now falls to "Caesar" to come up with a plan to free his species before they are all wiped out. Whilst I did quite enjoy this, it's not as good as the "Dawn..." (2014). It takes far too long to get going and Harrelson has all the menace of a cucumber sandwich. There is just too much dialogue (and sentiment) and Matt Reeves struggles to build, let alone sustain, the pace and menace that he did so well last time out. Although it is a bit on the long side, the last hour largely makes up most of these deficiencies as the plan for vengeance takes shape and the pyrotechnics go into overdrive. Good, but not great.

Excellent trilogy Most Hollywood remakes/reboots are failed cash grabs. They are pale imitations of the superior originals. But the new Planet of the Apes trilogy surprises in that it trumps all the previous Apes films--those from the 60's and 70's as well as the Tim Burton 2001 misfire. Caesar still leads the intelligent apes against the human forces who want to eradicate them. Caesar even shows mercy to some of his human captives, but the humans who fear the apes will not relent in their attempts to destroy them. The movie is driven largely by Andy Serkis's superb portrayal of Caesar. He is a complex and intriguing character. Woody Harrelson is also very good as the villain. His character is no generic, stock bad guy. He's layered and you may even surprisingly feel some sympathy for him. A great and thought provoking popcorn flick.