More Humanity in these Apes then the blockbusters starring actual humans this year.
Set several years after the official start of the Human-Ape
war kicked off by 2014’s “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” “War for the Planet
of the Apes” not only keeps much of the fictional and metatextual momentum of
this film series barreling forward but takes it to heights that I never believed
I would have seen again in a blockbuster age where “The Emoji Movie” is going
to be a thing.
Reprised by Andy Serkis, Ape Leader Caesar struggles to lead
his people to safety in a war that he desperately hopes to end before
escalation by showing all sides compassion in the face of adversity and cruelty
spurred on by a military colonel played by Woody Harrelson.
The ensuing conflict brings together a film that secures its
place as the greatest and most fully realized prequel in cinematic history, an
effortless finale to what very well may be a perfect trilogy of films, and a
much needed reminder that style and financially backed visual flourishes should
exist in service to rich and powerful storytelling.
“War for the Planet of the Apes” is for all intents and
purposes a modern science fiction masterpiece.
Using the elements of exaggeration baked into the DNA of the
concept, the film utilizes its more ludicrous aspects as a figurative smokescreen
to explore philosophical and sociological issues in such a way that strips them
down to their very core so effectively, you’re left wondering if any of this
could ever have been properly done in a standard human drama with so much
impact and weight.
For starters, “War for the Planet of the Apes” may be one of
the most effective anti-war films of recent history. Matt Reeves masterfully
directs the spectacle and intensity of a human war featuring enhanced nonhuman
combatants that would be a thrill to watch purely for entertainment purposes
but takes on more meaning when you consider the context of everything at stake.
When certain revelations are brought to light and the
Colonel’s motivations are laid out on the table, it becomes more and more clear
that despite the possibility of achieving peace and cohabitation existing, our
baser instincts will always prevail in a manner counterintuitive to
cooperation.
This franchise is ultimately based around the fact that the
best thing to ever happen to the Apes as a species catalyzed the fall of
humanity and no amount of compassion, aggression, or diplomacy allows these
very human characters to escape the opposite ends of the spectrum of fortune
that the film’s Simian Flu viral outbreak has landed them on.
As the film’s events set the stage for the world to take on
its more iconic state based on the 1968 film that started the series, watching
the complexities of Ape society grow proportionally to the raving and radical devolution
of the human species attempting to desperately cling to its own decaying familiarity
with superiority, this movie more than any of the others hammers home that
whatever ending is reached will not be a happy one.
Yet you will find yourself desperately hoping for some
defiance of fate to prove you otherwise because you just can’t help but love
these characters.
Watching Caesar rise to this point from the orphaned lab
experiment of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” offers a payoff in the 6 years
that this iteration of the series has been running that even manages to eclipse
the 17 year culmination of Hugh Jackman’s final performance as Wolverine in “Logan”
earlier this year.
The inevitable reality that Serkis will never receive so
much as a nomination for this performance by the Academy should stand as a
permanent stain on the worth of their endorsement. He and all of the actors of
this movie have created a synchronization between artistic performance and technical
mastery with the visual effect and sound crew that are damn near unparalleled in
how effectively they feed into one another.
The apes display a range of hurt, love, relief, anger,
humor, and sometimes a combination of each and more in a capacity that doesn’t
just go beyond the uncanny valley but outright demolishes it.
Ultimately however, if you strip this flick of all of the
subtext, emotional complexity, and clever plotting that elevate it so much, you
would still have an excellent adventure movie with more than enough visual
flair to satisfy, as well as finally figuring out how to frame the human factor
of this series, which has always been one of the weaker elements of the last 2
movies, in such a light that garners fascination and tragedy without reaching
for unearned sympathy or stretching to the mechanics of the plot.
And it does it all with its head held highly and
confidently, refusing to water itself down to reach an audience that probably
wouldn’t be interested or stretch itself out for more installments in the name
of potential commerce. It completes its story powerfully, without muddying the
waters for potential continuation if the studios so chooses to pursue.
“War for the Planet of the Apes” is not a perfect movie; the
exaggerations of its premise can lead to a few hokey moments between human and
ape interactions while playing on a few tired war story clichés and for the
slight dragging that the second act does towards its end, the first hour
probably could have done with 5-10 minute trimming that really would have made
a noticeable difference.
Yet these flaws, no matter how tangible, as they had even hit
me in the movie, never detracted from my unabashed love of the final product, my
desire to see it again, and my willingness to have sat though it for another 20
minutes happily had it dared to ask.
“War for the Planet of the Apes” is the kind of rare triumph
of a movie that reminds me of why I love film, blockbusters, science fiction,
and storytelling in general and my fortune to have witnessed it at a time when
Hollywood seems to be in desperate need of a fresh blood transfusion of
creative energy and sincerity brought me to near tears as I watched the credits
roll.
10 Hammy Charleton Heston Lines out of 10
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