Just gonna get this joke out of the way. “Wow a whole movie starring congress, I had no idea.”Moving on.
“War Of The Planet Of The Apes” is the conclusion of the Ape’s trilogy that started back in 2011 with “Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.” Each of these three movies take place long before the events of the original “Planet Of The Apes” movie from 1968, and serve as a “how did it happen?” theme.
The movie calls this “war” however, there isn’t a lot of battling or fighting in this movie. I’m not saying that as a bad thing either. The opening of this movie has a strong fight scene, but then the flick turns to focus on the apes. There are a lot of monkey’s in this movie. I mean a lot. A large majority of this film belongs to their story, which I love. This movie exists to tell us how they took over the planet. Andy Serkis as the ape, Caesar, deserves an Oscar.
One might think this is a big movie of Apes fighting for the planet against Woody Harrelson, but this movie doesn’t take that direction. The Apes (for the most part) want peace. Woody Harrelson leaves them alone, and they’ll leave them alone. It’s an angle that creates a very complex narrative of how hate consumes, and can destroy us.
The opening 40 minutes reminds me of a silent film, there isn’t much talking aloud. Most of the apes can’t speak outside of sign language. So there is a lot of reading (which I hope you all know how to do by now). Many might find the idea of this boring, but I found it compelling as hell. It truly showed that the director knew how to create a compelling story.
If you are looking for an action flick of man vs. ape, this movie is probably not for you. If you’ve been a fan of these movies since the beginning I highly recommend this one. Nine out of 10. Easy.
