BurtonReviews War for the Planet of the Apes: Damn Dirty Humans

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When first announced, a set of prequels to the classic but very strange sci-fi series Planet of the Apes (not the Tim Burton one) really garnered no interest from me. When the first in the trilogy was released it was a solid movie that saw CGI technology ‘Rise’ above what we thought was possible, with the master of performances capture at its helm, Andy Serkis. After I saw it once though, it never really creped up in my mind again. But then we saw the ‘Dawn’ of this ape led planet and all of our eyes were opened. The sequel upheld and actually improved the technological prowess the series showed when creating these, at this point, photo realistic walking talking apes. On top of that it had a painfully compelling story, fantastic action, and character development that turned these animals not into people, because in this universe that’d be an insult, but into dynamic, complex and living breathing characters that stole your heart and put it right onto the front lines of this interspecies battlefield. Now with that ‘War’ raging on stronger than ever, can the tormented leader of the Apes, Caesar (Serkis), finally catch a break, or will even more of his faeces hit the proverbial fan.

(Video sourced from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilhnNa-DrIk)

The story for War for the Planet of the Apes sees the scraps of the U.S. military that were contacted at the end of the last movie on a relentless hunt for Caesar and his kin, who, after the discovery of the devastating betrayal of one of their own, Koba, are just simply trying to live a peaceful life out in the forest. Not looking to start a fight, but not afraid to enter a battle when provoked, when in one such battle the surviving military force are taken captive by the apes. After learning of a Colonel (Woody Harrelson) that his hell-bent on finding and ending this ape-uprising once and for all, Caesar decides to let the captives go, taking the moral high-ground and hopefully showing the Colonel that they aren’t savage animals, but just as human as he is. But with every decision, there is a cost, and the cost of this fatal one sends Caesar, his family, and all of his people, hurtling into the cruellest hardship and worst struggle any of these already battle hardened apes have ever experienced.

While the trailers for this movie, and even the synopsis that I have just written, make ‘War’s feel grand in scale, which parts of it certainly are, but the main through line for the majority of this film is actually a lot more personal than you would expect. And after seeing Caesar go through hell already twice before in ‘Rise’ and ‘Dawn’, where we have already forged a strong and emotional bond with the troubled leader who just wants the best for his people and the people of the planet, then making this plot a very personal journey was a genius choice by writers Mark Bomback and Matt Reeves. With the emotional baggage for Caesar already firmly on our backs, you cannot helped but be glued to the screen and tear-jerkingly compelled by the tragic set of events that play out in this film from the very start.

And this film is bloody emotional, from start to finish. You feel every hardship experienced by these apes. Every sweet emotional beat warms your heart to finally see these characters, who you know have gone through so much and still have a steep hill to climb, finally get some happiness, and every devastating blow done to these beloved characters takes that same heart and pounds it into smithereens. To call ‘War’ a emotional rollercoaster is just the tip of the ice berg, and just like ‘Dawn’, I left the cinema emotionally drained and needing to go to a zoo and give any ape I can a big comforting hug (which you really shouldn’t actually do, FYI).

(Image sourced from http://screenrant.com/war-planet-apes-trailer-final/)

And one of the two main reasons we are so invested and compelled by these characters that in most other circumstances would be seen as goofy sci-fi creations, is because of the phenomenal acting that bursts through the CGI paintjobs and elevates these films from blockbusters romps to some real masterpieces.

Every member of the cast is incredible at making such a silly concept not only be pulled off, but even feel realistic when they have to film in those ridiculous spotted morphsuits and jump around like our hairy animal kingdom counterparts, and it would take too long to mention everyone (even though they all deserve the praise) but here are the ones that really stood out.

Of course the king of performance capture since his days as the jewellery loving Gollum was absolutely astounding in this film. Of course I am talking about Andy Serkis as Caesar. The intensity Serkis displayed here in Caesar’s darkest days was breath taking, the animal ferocity he unlocked to really commit and be able to land some of the most gut-punching scenes of the film pulled me into the moment and had me enraged and broken right along side Caesar. And it is this engrossing authenticity that made this tale of, basically a Jesus like icon in the Apes world, his fall from grace to become instead of the symbol of peace he has tried to be, but now instead be more akin to the violent insurgents he had been forced to stop in previous movies, such a compelling and utterly understandable fall from grace. Throughout the movie I was fully behind his convictions and by the end, both me and the character on screen were left to look at what he had done and realise we are all flawed and we all give into our basest of instincts, but sometimes that’s all we can do. And that kind of revelatory impact from a film is the mark of remarkable storytelling.

(Image sourced from http://www.mediastinger.com/war-for-the-planet-of-the-apes-2017-after-the-credits/)

On the line of completely understanding a characters questionable actions, the main antagonist of the film, the before mentioned ruthless Colonel (Woody Harrelson) also did a fantastic job at portraying a completely understandable and compelling character on this desperate planet. Even though many, if not all, of his actions were deplorable, I always completely got where he was coming from and was hard pressed to see if I would have done much differently in his position. Harrelson wasn’t just a clichéd villain for Caesar to take down with almighty ape justice, he was a living breathing complex character that much like Caesar was forced into a bad situation and is making what he thinks is the best of it.

On a lighter note, which this film is definitely in need of, another new addition to the cast that absolutely stole the spot light in most the scenes he was featured in was the eccentric loner Bad Ape (Steve Zahn). Adding a much needed sprinkling of levity to events, Bad Ape was a total surprise, and possibly one of my favourite characters coming out of the cinema. With a tragic back story, like pretty much every one on this planet, Bad Ape’s many years of isolation from any form of contact with another being has left him to become abit larger than life, as anyone would if left to just hear the sound of your own voice for many years. At it is his energetic presence and  lack of knowledge abut the world around him that added a relieving, but not over bearing, amount of comedy in the film that helped nicely break up the scenes of utter devastation and over-tones of bleakness.

The other main reason that the ape characters are so brilliantly life like and compelling is the astounding CGI that is employed to turn an Englishman into a walking, talking, shotgun toting ape. Only in 2 shots of the film could the CGI be recognised, for the rest of the entirety of ‘War’, every single ape scuttling around on screen looked picture perfect to a real life chimpanzee or gorilla. From the extremely emotive faces that harbour so much intensity and acute emotion just in a simple eyebrow raise, to the plush fur coats that eave in the icy cold winds of the Colonel’s military camp, to say I was blown away by the accuracy of the CGI would be another understatement as the film constantly forgetting what was fake, and what was real.

(Image sourced from http://www.slashfilm.com/war-for-the-planet-of-the-apes-clip-bad-ape/)

 

And all of this CGI prowess catastrophically shone in the grand action sequences of the film. The title does have “War” in after all, and from the opening scene, the action set pieces of this film definitely do deliver on that moniker. From ‘Rise’ to ‘War’ the scale of these interspecies battles have expanded so much that now we are seeing two opposing armies go full pelt at each other, and while it is deeply saddening to see how this planet has fallen into such turmoil, it is also admittedly freakin awesome to see barrage of hurtling grenade launcher shots be evaded by a raging ape with a deadly spear in hand and the conviction to use it to it’s full potential. And that’s just the opening scene of the movie.

However scale is actually one of my only problems with the film. While the action is undeniably cataclysmic feeling, akin to World War rather than a goofy sci-fi movie, and the events of the film, rounding off such a momentous arc for Caesar that has been developed and seeded throughout the whole trilogy that at this point feels almost biblical in how grand and impactful this story is on it’s universe, there is one issue that my head just cant irritatingly shake. This is a Planet of Apes right? But we’ve only seen Caesar’s, relative to that title, small group; hell we haven’t even heard of other societies of apes spread across the lands. It’s this fact that makes these “Planet” movies feel abit thin. Why are the humans so desperate and scared of the apes if it is only this one group? How will apes ever completely take over if all they have been in is about three states of American after so many years? It’s these questions that hinder how grand these stories feel and leave an annoying gap between how this trilogy leaves off and how the classic tale begins.

With that, I really do hope that we see this franchise continue and we get to the titular Planet of Apes one day, because these prequels that are way, way better than they conceptually deserve to be, have hinted and teased to a lot of aspects that connect and are major plot points of the original movies in interesting ways and it would be a shame to see all that hard work be unsatisfying left abit too open ended.

(Image sourced from http://cinemacomrapadura.com.br/noticias/451538/planeta-dos-macacos-a-guerra-conheca-o-personagem-de-steve-zahn-no-novo-clipe-estendido/)

 

Overall War for the Planet of the Apes is a very long title to an incredible film. The emotional beats of the story will leave you rocking back and forth in emotional agony, not only because the script weaves an interesting tale of personal struggle on a planet where nothing seems to go right for anyone, good or bad, but also because the craft put behind very single beloved character of this phenomenal franchise, from the stellar acting to the jaw-dropping CGI, makes every aspect of this ridiculous film believable, compelling and visually stunning.

War of the Planet of the Apes = 9.5 /10

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