War for the Planet of the Apes

Many years ago I saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes and then its sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, which both served as prequels to The Planet of the Apes. Both were excellent films and I rewatched them again recently ahead of seeing the third in the new series, War for the Planet of the Apes which released many years ago now in 2017. With another Apes film having just released last year, I wanted to finally finish the 20th Century Fox trilogy which earned a lot of praise around its release but gradually fizzled away. 

Following the events of the last film which saw humans and apes go their separate ways after much fighting, an aggressive colonel begins leading a series of deadly attacks against Caesar's camp in an attempt to assassinate him with the hope of ending the ape uprising. After suffering heavy losses, Caesar orders the apes abandon their home in the woods in the hope of finding somewhere new while he seeks revenge. 

Directed by Matt Reeves, who also directed Dawn, War is another gripping action thriller as the world falls further into chaos. The visuals are once again terrific and all benefit the terrific cast under the CGI make-up while under Reeves's direction which remains on-point once more. However, I would dare to say this is a slight dip from Dawn which had more interesting characters while this is very black and white. 

Woody Harrelson makes for a great antagonist but I feel he isn't given enough to do. There is also a particular moment midway through where a character is killed-off but it felt rushed as they need them out of the picture in order for the story to progress because they wouldn't fit what would happen next. These are just a few nit-picks but they do all culminate to ever-so-slightly hinder an otherwise very good film.

When Reeves and Andy Serkis as Caesar hit the right note, War becomes a great film and it really comes alive towards the end. The character drama throughout all three films always delivers to bring those emotional beats and I will look forward to watching this film again one day as it is still so very good. It is just the shadow of its predecessor that weakens this but I would still gladly recommend this and look forward to seeing where Disney take the franchise next.