The rebooted Planet of the Apes trilogy comes to a stunning conclusion with the final instalment that continues the series’ record for intelligent and thought-provoking ideas, ground-breaking performance-capture technology, and heartfelt and emotional storylines.

Premise: Two years after Koba first ignited the conflict between the humans and the apes, the war rages on in the forests outside San Francisco, as a fanatical Colonel (Woody Harrelson) leads his Special Forces soldiers to hunt down the apes’ leader, Caesar (Andy Serkis). Realising that they cannot remain hidden forever, Caesar desperately looks for a way to save his people, while trying to retain his humanity in the face of the darkness of war.

Review:

Each of the three rebooted Planet of the Apes films have been great films in their own right, but now that the series has reached its conclusion, the overall effect is that the trilogy as a whole is even better than the sum of its individual parts. Just as Koba’s experiences in the first film, Rise, made his storyline that much more nuanced and poignant in the second film, Dawn, so too have the events from the earlier films added depth and emotion to the character arcs for Caesar (Andy Serkis), Maurice (Karin Konoval) and Rocket (Terry Notary), the only main characters to appear in all three films.

And speaking of which, not only is it very telling that the only characters to have appeared in more than one film in the trilogy have all been performance-captured ape characters, but in War, all-but-one of the eight main characters are also performance-captured ape characters. Whereas Rise told the story from the human characters’ perspective (principally James Franco’s Will), and Dawn arguably split the focus between Caesar’s perspective and his human counterparts’ (including Jason Clarke’s Malcolm), War is undeniably told from the apes’ perspective. Aside from a couple of significant supporting characters, the only main human character is Woody Harrelson’s Colonel, who’s unquestionably the antagonist of the piece (albeit an interestingly three dimensional one).

“…Caesar becomes an almost mythical figure, a cross between Moses and John Conner…”

The film is therefore, for all intents and purposes, carried solely by the performance-captured ape characters, and it’s a credit to the individual actors themselves and to the advances in the performance-capture technology that they are able to do so with ease. The performance-capture technology is now so refined that it’s able to convey every little facial expression and eye twitch of the actor, giving life and soul to the digital creations and making them so convincing that you can almost believe they’re real.

This is absolutely Andy Serkis’ film, and it’s great to see the marketing for the film focus so heavily on Caesar’s character arc. Woody Harrelson may be great (and he is) as the main human character, but this is first and foremost Caesar’s story, and whereas Rise explained how he found himself as the reluctant and unexpected leader of the band of intelligent apes, and Dawn dealt with his unsuccessful attempts to build a peace between apes and humans, War shows how he becomes an almost mythical figure in the apes’ war for survival against the humans, an ape cross between Moses and John Conner.

“…doesn’t compromise in its depictions of the atrocities committed in times of war…”

The rebooted film series has never shied away from dealing with intelligent and thought-provoking subject matter, and Dawn in particular dealt with some fairly challenging issues about trust, racial prejudice and cycles of violence. War continues this trend by not compromising in its depictions of the horrors and atrocities committed in times of war, especially in a war where both sides fear extinction if they lose. Both sides in this war have to confront their own internal darkness in this film, and struggle to find a balance between morality and necessity, between personal emotion and the greater good of their species.

Woody Harrelson’s Colonel is certainly villainous, but as the film goes on, we learn more about the reasons behind what he does, so that while his actions may never be excusable, they are arguably understandable. In War, the human soldiers are also aided by ape collaborators – former followers of Koba who have sided with the humans to seek vengeance against Caesar. This adds yet a further layer of moral ambiguity to the complexities of the war.

“…one of the most intelligent blockbusters of recent years…”

As serious as the subject matter is, the tone is never overly grim, and a lot of levity is brought to the film by Steve Zahn’s new character, a chimpanzee who previously lived in a zoo and who thinks his name is “Bad Ape” because that’s what the humans called him. Also, I’m not generally a fan of child-actors, but Amiah Miller is very good in this film as an orphan caught up in the war.

This epic conclusion to the trilogy would be a great film even if you’d never watched a previous Planet of the Apes film – but as the culmination of Caesar’s rise from ape outcast to reluctant revolutionary hero, War for the Planet of the Apes is immensely satisfying, and one of the most intelligent blockbusters of recent years.