Directed by:
Matt ReevesCinematography:
Michael SeresinComposer:
Michael GiacchinoCast:
Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Judy Greer, Steve Zahn, Gabriel Chavarria, Karin Konoval, Terry Notary, Sara Canning, Max Lloyd-Jones, Alessandro Juliani (more)VOD (4)
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In War for the Planet of the Apes, the third chapter of the critically acclaimed blockbuster franchise, Caesar and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel. After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. As the journey finally brings them face to face, Caesar and the Colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both their species and the future of the planet. (20th Century Fox)
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I'm struck by how many people complain that there is “not enough war" in War for the Planet of the Apes. I, on the other hand, am glad there isn’t. The war scenes that are there are enough for me - they are so suggestive and gritty that I most definitely didn't need more. I am so pleased that the unimaginably cutting-edge effects serve mainly to create 100% believable characters and we can follow their story - especially Caesar's. A story that shows us one of the most heroic film characters of all time (I mean that, deadly serious), deals with humanity and inhumanity, skillfully develops the ideas of the 2011 film (who would have expected it back then?) and gets closer and closer to the 1968 film. I don't have a single reservation about the directing and its atmospheric scenes, I didn't really expect so much emotion from start to finish, in terms of acting it’s top notch (the Colonel and Nova are the only interesting humans, and that is the way it should be) and most importantly, it's still interesting and engaging and epic, though at the same time intimate. And that Michael Giacchino music!
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My disappointment with the last film was so great that I avoided the trailers for the third one, feeling their uselessness. However, Reeves was either kept sedated or some brave producer really believed him, and I can hardly resist getting excited about arguably the boldest summer blockbuster in years. The opening action is still very forced, but then for the next hour, four monkeys, whose CGI rendering is a CGI reality approaching perfection, track a military unit through a snowy landscape at a slow but cinematically precise and deliberate pace. All the while, they are driven by the best possible cinematic engine, i.e., the desire for revenge. It was clear that all would be forgiven and I just prayed that it would keep going like this, as Michael Giacchino conducts the minimalist retro score and the cinematography flirts with the turn of the sixth and seventh decades of the last century. And that’s not all. Woody Harrelson varies the best possible creation of khaki madness spewed from the heart of darkness, and after the famous dialogue with Caesar, the film jumps on the dark wave of the erratic nature of desired good and the lure of ambiguous evil to bring it to an epic end. Even amidst the cheesy interludes and pathos of heroic self-sacrifice, it still keeps a grim face that relies on heroes who are no longer amusing apes who can do funny gestures, but solid figures whose emerging evolutionary supremacy is not to be doubted.
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They weren't kidding overseas, the third Planet of the Apes is another great spectacle. Matt Reeves continues the tone set by the previous installments and delivers a film that, while nearly two and a half hours long, isn't afraid to slow down and make time for scenes where the characters just sit around, talk, and you find out little details about them that make you worry about them instead of just waiting for the final set-piece. While last time the apes and humans were given similar space, this time it's almost all about Caesar, but Woody Harrelson has enough space to shine next to the digital (and of course amazing-looking) animal characters. I can imagine that the finale, with its slightly unexpected concept, won't quite suit some people, but paradoxically it makes all the ideas that have been hinted at several times throughout the film come through. Overall, War for the Planet of the Apes is exactly what we expected and hoped for. Plus, it confidently references the Charlton Heston version more than once, giving answers to questions one might not have thought to ask. A good and clever blockbuster. There's bloody little of that in cinemas..
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Old Man Caesar. I was afraid that the purely war-themed ending wouldn't be dignified enough for this saga of primates and humans, but the opposite is true. It's not just an action ride; it's a multi-genre crossbreed that took my breath away with every change of storytelling spirit. From the almost palpable weight of the experienced leader's fate, through the mental battle of two strong personalities, to the escape, intensified by its unbearable tension. The last chapter even extracts so many emotions from me that I was surprised they were all just for the Planet of the Apes. Thanks to everyone who allowed Matt Reeves to have an impact on the script because War for the Planet of the Apes surpasses the thematically very close Dawn of the Planet of the Apes in everything.
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Don’t expect any real “war” – that takes about four minutes. The film is a slow, sensitively narrated “wandering” drama
focusing on diverse characters and their emotional interactions, of course in perfectly designed natural settings. As in
the last The Jungle Book, the motion capture performances of monkeys’ faces completely overshadow the live actors
(including Woody Harrelson). The details of rendering their skin/fur are again a bit more technologically advanced than
in previous Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Incredible.
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Gallery (86)
Photo © 20th Century Fox
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