War For The Planet Of The Apes

War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)

94% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 193 reviews)

Runtime: 139 minutes

Directed by: Matt Reeves

Starring: Ape characters played by the likes of Andy Serkis and human characters such as those played by Woody Harrelson

From: 20th Century Fox

Wednesday night I rewatched Dawn of the Planet of the Apes; it's still great. Last night I saw this movie, and it's also great, but in a different way from Dawn, although they share similarities. I talk all about it below without going heavy into spoilers:

I've never heard a succinct term to describe this phenomenon, but most of us film fans have known for years that the third movie in any series has a good chance of not only being worse than the first two (no matter how good the first or first and second flicks were) but pretty bad. Examples bandied about to describe this include Superman III, Spiderman 3, Pirates 3, Scream 3, X-Men: The Last Stand, The Matrix Revolutions... people being apprehensive when a third movie comes around is thus quite understandable, and even though the people involved in making Dawn of... returned to make this, it definitely could have been screwed up somewhere along the way, and as this was what I was looking forward to the most this summer, this failing would have been a huge letdown.

Much to my relief, this movie met my expectations and I can give it a high rating. Beforehand I only saw one trailer once and between that and some hearsay, all I knew about the film was that it was the apes against some soldiers (led by Woody Harrelson) and there's a young girl named Nova-which is a nice nod for the franchise fans. I won't reveal much more myself. I can say that Rise, Dawn, and this movie are all different from one another and thus things don't seem old hat or hackneyed, lessons other franchises should take note of. Considering that this film has some pretty bad things happen to the apes, it was not a bad idea for there to be more comedy than in Dawn. That could have gone awry but thankfully it did not and it wasn't painfully bad comedy. There are also plenty of allusions to both other Apes films and plenty of famous movies from the past and it's done in a way that isn't annoying.

Like in Dawn, it's a layered plot filled with complex characters who change throughout the progression of the picture; the scenery is beautiful (as are the effects which bring them to life) and throughout the trilogy Andy Serkis has done a marvelous job bringing Caesar to life; it is easy to root for him and his simian pals. I know that sometime years in the future Serkis will get an honorary Oscar for his tremendous work in the motion-capture field. I know that many will agree with me when I state that he deserves such high recognition now, as in getting major award nominations, and him working in a new field should not prevent that from happening.

As I've said before, these new Apes movies are my kind of summer blockbuster; it's refreshing compared to the few lame tentpole pictures I've watched in recent years. They aren't hackneyed or cliché; they all have thoughtful moments and characters that aren't tissue paper thin in terms of motivations or ideals. Harrelson's villain character The Colonel, you do get an explanation for his actions, and his prejudices are understandable... but it definitely does not excuse some of the horrible things he did or ordered his underlings to do. There is quality filmmaking all around (including a quality score from Michael Giacchino) and hopefully with the success of these films that are unconventional compared to the typical tentpole flicks we get in the hot summer months, there could be more movies like this; I'd love for there to be more attempts, even if it's a swing and a miss, as at least those would be interesting motion pictures and it'd be an ambitious failure.

I don't know if the series will continue after this, and if the quality will end up declining if they make any further films. I will just be happy with what we have gotten-it's been a breath of fresh air-and those that love Dawn likely will love this too.