war for the planet of the apes full movie

#War for the planet of the apes full movie movie
#War for the planet of the apes full movie series

One of the many brilliant elements of the script by Mark Bomback & Matt Reeves is its forced perspective. How “War for the Planet of the Apes” unfolds from here is relatively simple, especially for the often plot-laden genre of the summer blockbuster. Now the ape learns another human emotion that often leads to tragedy: vengeance.

That’s exactly what happens when a character known only as The Colonel ( Woody Harrelson) attacks the apes camp, killing some of Caesar’s family. It’s an interesting narrative aspect of these films that Caesar so often seems to just be seeking peace, but he’s drawn back into conflict by human beings who refuse to allow co-existence with a species that may be their superior. No one knows exactly where Caesar is or what his plans are, although we learn relatively quickly that his primary focus is survival. mortality tragic tale of the war to end all wars.After the traumatic infighting that served as the centerpiece for “ Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” Caesar ( Andy Serkis) and his fellow apes have become almost legendary, the animals in the woods that soldiers speak about with hushed tones. You might even want to bring a hankie to this morality vs.

#War for the planet of the apes full movie movie

It’s odd, perhaps, to find yourself rooting for the other side of the evolutionary ladder, but Reeves’ movie will have you doing just that. In the end, war is hell no matter what species you are.ĭon’t bother with the 3-D version of this sci-fi morality tale it’s not necessary thanks to the inspired motion-capture acting of the simian cast and the richly detailed CGI animation that brings so much life to its non-human heroes. Harrelson’s Colonel is a direct homage to Brando’s Kurtz in the Coppola classic, and the gunslinging ape posse act as a clever variant on the “You shot my pa!” tropes common to the Western genre. Pared down to its essence, War is equal parts Western and Apocalypse Now – or “ape-pocalypse now” as some briefly seen graffiti puts it. (Longtime Apes fans will surely get the reference.) They also discover a mute human child they name Nova. Formerly an abused zoo animal who came to believe the phrase “bad ape” was his actual name, the character provides the otherwise grim film with some light comic relief mixed with melancholy. A posse is formed to find the location of the human base and, while traveling there on horseback, they meet up with a frightened chimpanzee, Bad Ape (Zahn). His wise orangutan friend Maurice (Konoval) cautions against it, while second-in-command gorilla Luca (Adamthwaite) knows that his leader will never let the atrocity go. When one of the heavily armed human raids results in the death of Caesar’s wife and child, the formerly peace-seeking chimpanzee sets out to avenge their deaths and take as many of the Colonel’s soldiers down as possible. His forested redoubt in the high sierras is enduring hit-and-run attacks from a nearby band of soldiers commanded by mad dreamer the Colonel (Harrelson).

(That’s not a knock on actual apes, okay?) War does feature a handful of breathtaking battle sequences, but of all three Apes movies, this is the most knowing, relatable, and intensely realized depiction of humanity’s end and the hyper-intelligent chimps, gorillas, and orangutans’ taking over the planet.įifteen years on from the events portrayed in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the simian protagonists are still led by Caesar (Serkis). In just under two and a half hours, director Reeves and co-screenwriter Mark Bomback make monkeys of the film’s bellicose, desperate human survivors and compassionate, utterly believable “humans” of the ape society. It’s an undeniable pleasure, then, to say that War for the Planet of the Apes is a glorious, action-and-pathos packed capstone to the rebooted Apes franchise. Even so, cinematic trifectas are notoriously tricky to pull off. Of course, 20 years later Mad Max: Fury Road, “in the roar of an engine,” regained everything.

#War for the planet of the apes full movie series

Even George Miller’s dystopian gearhead Mad Max series stumbled with its third entry, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.

It’s a rare thing for a trilogy to best itself again and again.