War for the Planet of the Apes Review
You dedicate all your time, blood, sweat, and tears practicing or studying for the next big game or test. All those hours of preparation can only be justified by a strong performance on the big day. Movie franchises kind of follow the same idea. The series relies on the final film to deliver a memorable send out to the story and characters that have been developed throughout the previous installments. The finale needs to wrap everything up in a satisfying and emotional way.
War for the Planet of the Apes seals the deal for the Apes franchise. The results are in and we officially have one of the most consistently solid film trilogies that I can think of. Rise of the Planet of the Apes surprised everyone and then Dawn of the Planet of the Apes came along and rose above it. War of the Planet of the Apes topples both, giving us an extremely rewarding end to this prequel trilogy.
There’s so much that this film does right. I mentioned before that a conclusion like this needs emotional impact and that’s this movies biggest strength. The characters are so complex and layered that you are able to invest yourself in each one of their stories. Caesar is at the top of the list for the best protagonists of big budget franchises. He’s not black or white. He lies somewhere in between and that makes for a very interesting character. He doesn't want all of the death and destruction that surrounds him but at the end of the day he’s going to protect his own kind. These CGI apes aren’t even real and they feel so human and complex.
War for the Planet of the Apes is epic in all the right ways. The set pieces are massive and the whole film feels like it’s building up to a grand finish. At the same time, there’s a lot of subtle emotion and meaningful messages that director Matt Reeves succeeds in scattering throughout the story. It gives a big budget blockbuster like this so much more depth than a lot of similar efforts we’ve gotten this year. It relies on the character development and events of the other films to make a big impact while also creating its own stand alone adventure.
The strong last act of the film makes all these positives even better. The finale is epic, bold, and worthwhile. Good music can’t hurt a movie’s cause either and War for the Planet of the Apes delivers on that front as well.
It’s already clear that, for me, this movie is a very solid conclusion. However, it definitely suffered from some flaws that stopped it from being a home run. The first half of the movie follows a story structure that is very reminiscent of revenge tales like Kill Bill and Django Unchained. Caesar and the apes want the humans to pay for their own mistakes and greed. The second half takes a different turn and although it works for the most part, I think the film could have been stronger if it had just followed what the beginning was setting up. The other thing is the length. It clocks in around 2 hr 20 min and it shows at times.
War for the Planet of the Apes is a great bow to wrap up this franchise. It met and exceeded a lot of my expectations while also falling flat on a few elements of the story. Director Matt Reeves had a clear plan for this series and wanted to be the one to give this trilogy the ending that it deserved. For the most part he did that with flying colors. 8.5/10
