War for the Planet of the Apes

Starring: Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Steve Zahn, Karin Konoval, Amiah Miller, Toby Kebbell, Judy Greer, Terry Notary, Ty Olsson
Directed by: Matt Reeves
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
2017

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Caesar (Andy Serkis) faces great loss in the continuing war between men and apes.

Review:

Tim: The new Planet of the Apes trilogy has been easily better than the first series of films. Rise of the Planet of the Apes is my favorite film in the franchise. While these films are so strong, each has been a little less effective than the one before. Rise was incredible, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was a great movie (if just barely), and now, while War for the Planet of the Apes is a really effective movie, it's still the least strong of this trilogy. The downward trend is clear at this point. While this is still one of the better movies in the franchise, it's slightly disappointing how the quality keeps dropping.

Now, some of this is due to the familiarity with the incredible visual effects and Andy Serkis' remarkable performance. When Rise came out, it was truly stunning how incredible the visual effects were. Much of that awe has dissipated. While this movie is visually beautiful and continues to push the boundaries of visual effects, we have grown used to the amazing depiction of humanoid apes. We might be pleased by the visuals, but they no longer stun us. That forces the movie to rely more on the story, and that's where the film starts to lose quality.

Now, that's not to say the story here is bad- it's a very strong story and a logical continuation of the plot established in the earlier films. However, it feels slightly redundant. We know this franchise is about apes verses humans, but even the slight twists here feel like we've seen this before. It's a similar issue the Terminator movies face. After a while, it's humans verses robots and it all feels like a path we've trodden multiple times before. That happened here. We see humans verses apes, which is cool, but it's basically the same thing we've seen twice now (and for the 9th time if you include every film in the franchise). Some of the sheen has come off the story.

Now, while I'm pointing out the flaws, this film is still so good. Andy Serkis is absolutely stunning as Caesar. I could watch him play this role for hours and hours. The look, the sulking, stoic grasp of the dark reality- everything he does is just incredible. His performance is truly amazing. I loved the addition of Woody Harrelson, who makes every movie better. He gives a solid performance here. I thought they did some interesting things with his character. It made him more realistic and his arc was unexpected, but it didn't exactly create the most memorable of antagonists. I thought his character was fine, but the movie needed a better written character. Steve Zahn was fine- it was fun to see his personality show up in his character, although it felt like they forced the humor too much (and it didn't exactly work as intended). He was fine, but I didn't love his character. Honestly, the other ape characters kind of blend together. One of the faults is that they aren't nearly memorable enough in their own right (outside of Caesar). That's possibly an issue for the franchise moving forward- Caesar is incredible, but who else does the audience actually identify with?

One other issue I had is that it felt like the film was too small in scope. This movie doesn't really depict a war for the planet of the apes. It really depicts one battle. (unfortunately for them, Battle for the Planet of the Apes has already been used). War suggests something of bigger scope than we got. I understand the events of the film are important to the overall mythology, but they felt too small, too contained for what we expected. It didn't feel like this movie was a major jump up from Dawn. It was a good story and entertaining, but it felt not important enough. That's strange, especially considering the movie was way too long at 2 hours, 20 minutes. It should have felt bigger.

I still really enjoyed War for the Planet of the Apes and consider it better than any of the older films except the original. It's important to have that context in mind. You could celebrate this film (and maybe should), as it's the fourth best Planet of the Apes movie (in my opinion). Four out of nine isn't too bad. However, it's the least effective of the new trilogy and it represents the second film in a row where the overall quality has gone down. That doesn't suggest great things if they do another movie. That part is troubling. Still, while this might not have been the movie we wanted, it's still an entertaining, solid effort.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes