Film Review: War for the Planet of the Apes
By Ryan Towler
In the third and possibly final instalment in the rebooted series, War for the Planet of the Apes is the story of a war between a large militant group known as Alpha-Omega and the intelligent Ape civilisation led by Caesar (Andy Serkis).
Early on in the film, Caesar suffers a heavy loss at the hands of Alpha-Omega’s leader, the Colonel (Woody Harrelson). Full of hatred for the Colonel, Caesar sets out to find him and kill him for what he has done.
With a group of three other apes, they go on a journey to find the Alpha-Omega’s military base. A long the way, they find a girl who cannot speak, a nod to the original 1968 film. She joins the apes along their journey.
The group then find a lone ape known as Bad Ape (Steve Zahn), who shares vital information about how to find the military base.
Andy Serkis’s performance is terrific, and a worthy contender for a possible Academy Award nomination. The way he walks, talks and the emotion he shows are so convincing as a highly intelligent ape.
Matt Reeves showcases a great eye in his direction, especially in the climactic scenes of the film which depict a battle between the apes and Alpha-Omega, and then an attack on the military base from the U.S. Army.
While watching this film, I could not help but wonder. It is so easy to be on the Apes’ side as a viewer of the film, but if this were real life, most of us would probably stay faithful to the humans.
Woody Harrelson’s The Colonel is a good villain, but the character is underused and should have been more apparent throughout the film.
This is an excellent film for fans of the franchise and also of war and action films. The acting is fantastic, especially by Andy Serkis and the visual effects are breathtaking. The only negative is that the Colonel should have featured in more scenes throughout the film.
War for the Planet of the Apes receives 4 stars out of 5.
This film was seen courtesy of Dendy Canberra