Concluding the Trilogy: ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’ (2017)
Finally! After waiting for months for this movie –keep in mind it wasn’t released in the country I live in-, I have watched the final film of the ‘Apes’ trilogy, at long last.
Let me start by saying that, like many out there, I was initially hesitant about the project of reviving the Apes series. Although I’m not emotionally attached to the 1968 film and its prequels, sequels and remakes, I did know the franchise was buried after Burton’s ill-received movie –which, by the way, had a trailer that managed to terrify me when I was a kid!
My initial distrust pushed me to watch ‘Rise…’ a few years after it was released –I think the premiere for ‘Dawn…’ was just around the corner back then-, and I was pleasantly surprised.
Fast-forward 6 years since ‘Rise…’ hit the big screen, and we are now at the –supposed- ending of the trilogy. And what an ending!
From the very first shot, you know you are in for a beautiful and emotional ride. And it is, indeed, beautiful! The cinematography of this installment is absolutely gorgeous. Every scene works like a living painting, and it has been crafted with detail and care. The landscapes are splendid, and you feel the grittiness, the cold, the dirt and the wonder, just like the characters on screen.
Additionally, the design of the apes is simply fantastic. We are still not at the point where this technology can fully pass as real. But some of the shots, particularly those involving close-ups of the apes, will make you question if they employed actual animals.
The mastery used to recreate their emotional reactions and bring them to life is breathtaking. The ‘Apes’ trilogy has pushed the boundaries with every new film, and in ‘War…’ we get to enjoy and appreciate the praiseworthy results.
Beyond the evolution of the effects, ‘War…’ also takes our main character to uncharted territories. Caesar (Andy Serkis) is thus forced to recognize the darkness within himself. As he mentions to one of the characters, the events of the previous film still haunt him, as well as the rest of the pack. Koba’s hatred for the humans lives also within him, and it’s his duty as the leader to find a way of ending such a curse, even if it means taking himself out of the picture.
Seeing the progression of Caesar from film to film is fascinating. And the heartbreaking yet hopeful ending of the trilogy feels earned. It’s the perfect conclusion after all the harrowing moments we have experienced with him.
The movie also manages to introduce some new characters at the very last minute without taking away from Caesar’s journey. Nova (Amiah Miller) and Bad Ape (Steve Zahn) are wonderful secondary characters that in some way embody the other side of the fight: love and innocence. Together with Maurice (Karin Konoval) and Cornelius (Devyn Dalton), whom also represent a caring nature and an unprejudiced future, they stand for those good elements of life that can survive even the most dreadful of situations.
Still, like its predecessors, ‘War…’ avoids oversimplifying the complexity of the situation. Even when most of us would take side with the apes, we can also recognize many unfavorable traits in some of them. Greed, submission, egotism…are not entirely foreign to them. And the fact that the film refuses to present the world as fully black-or-white, that our hero can still have evil within him, and our bad guy can have redeemable qualities as well, it’s a feat not many films can achieve.
In this sense, ‘War…’ is more a character piece than a big action-driven production. There is action indeed, but most of the film works more as a prison/escape type of movie than a wide-scale battle between humans and apes.
This is a common complaint I’ve stumbled upon in many –if not most- reviews of the film: that there was not that much ‘war’ in the movie to prompt its name. Personally, I disagree. Most of the time, war isn’t about grand-scale battles full of explosions and machine guns. War is also about little moments that have large repercussions, it’s about strategy, about strokes of luck, about mind games and about sacrifices –big and small.
To say there is no war in the movie because the fight is not more drawn out is to fall into the trap of believing that none of the elements I mentioned before are part of armed conflicts. It’s also easy to forget that the war they refer to in the title is also reflective of Caesar’s internal struggle.
Of course, I do agree the film is not perfect –although it’s not because there is not enough war action as we stereotypically conceive it. In fact, two of my complaints have to do with two smaller characters: Nova and Preacher (Gabriel Chavarria).
When it comes to Nova, there was a lack of conflict in the character that struck me as highly odd. Although her guardian –was he her father?- is killed by the apes, she never second-guesses following them or accepting Maurice’s kindness. There is no progression to her acceptance of these creatures. I can let it pass because her scenes were touchingly beautiful, but it did bother me as I watched the movie Was it because she was already infected and thus had a less complex way of processing what happened to her? Perhaps. But it didn’t fully work for me. After all, even the most loyal of creatures will react in fear and distrust to those who are violent to it or its peers.
On the other hand, Preacher received a lot of focus that seemed to hint at an internal conflict concerning his beliefs about the apes and his fidelity to the Colonel. Yet, there is no actual resolution to it. In fact, it seemed as if his only purpose was to show Red Donkey’s (Ty Olsson) evolution. So, why did we place him under the spotlight so often?
Notwithstanding these minor flaws, I firmly believe ‘War…’ was an exceptional ending to what seems to be one of the greatest trilogies done in recent years. Even if the box-office wasn’t as kind as I expected with this movie, I do hope more and more people will recognize its many accomplishments, and that the cast and crew will get the credit they deserve.
All I can say is: well done!
Grade: 9/10.
