Spoilers War for the Planet of the Apes Review Thread

[The Nth Doctor]

Since no one else has posted the review thread, here we go!

Not many trilogies create better films each step of the way. I'd argue Toy Story is the only one to truly succeed at this achievement.

I firmly believe the newly formed Planet of the Apes trilogy also reached this success.

War for the Planet of the Apes naturally builds upon its predecessors and profoundly develops themes of not this film series, but the original series as well. The film conclusively ends the trilogy, just as Toy Story did, on the perfect emotional note but also leaves the door open for future stories.

Like the previous films, there were plenty of lovely references to the previous films: Cornelius, Michael Giacchino's score strongly echoing Jerry Goldsmiths' original, Nova (although that was a bit too on the nose), the virus mutating to cause the humans to become mute, and, of course, THE SCARECROWS! As much as I loved the musical callbacks to Goldsmith's score, the scarecrows made me the happiest.

More thoughts later, but I just wanted to get this thread up.

 

[JD]

This was my favorite movie in the series yet, and I'd personally say it's possibly even better than the original.
First of all, Andy Serkis really was amazing, and if he doesn't at least get an Oscar nomination then something is wrong. I was really happy that they actually had one of the other apes, I can't remember for sure if it was Maurice, Luka, or Rocket, calling him out on the fact that he was acting just like Koba in Dawn. That seems to me like the kind of thing a lot of movies would just ignore in order to keep from making their hero seem less heroic. I was not expecting the actual cameos from Koba, so that was a fun little surprise.
The whole thing with the virus making the humans mute and less intelligent was a nice surprise, and a cool callback to the original movie.
Woody Harrleson also did a great job as The Colonel. His backstory was pretty interesting, and the way his final fate tied back to it was perfect IMO.
Nova and Bad Ape were nice additions to the cast.
Does anybody know who voiced Maurice? His mo-cap actor is a woman, so I wasn't sure if they just altered her voice or brought in a male voice actor.

 

[Awesome Possum]

Perfect ending to the trilogy,

I can't remember for sure if it was Maurice, Luka, or Rocket, calling him out on the fact that he was acting just like Koba in Dawn. That seems to me like the kind of thing a lot of movies would just ignore in order to keep from making their hero seem less heroic.

That was perfect and I like that Caesar recognized this himself by the end. The symbolism of Caesar being an ape Moses, even getting to see the "promised land" but dying before he could enter it was really well done.

 

[tomalak301]

I was bored of this movie during the first half. It was slow and didn't have the emotional resonance of the previous two. The second half picked up a little but the scene worth Harrelson's character and Ceaser should have been the main crux of the movie and it wasn't explored enough.

 

[safarial]

This rrilogy does void beneath through battle, so it does open up the door for sequesls to the original.

 

[USS Firefly]

A great movie, and thankfully not an standard Hollywood movie.

 

[EmoBorg]

When the apes were being held in the military base, almost all were were chimps with a few bonobos and orangutans thrown in. I am guessing all the gorillas in Caesar group were killed off during the military attack early on.

Overall a very good movie.

 

[USS Firefly]

When the apes were being held in the military base, almost all were were chimps with a few bonobos and orangutans thrown in. I am guessing all the gorillas in Caesar group were killed off during the military attack early on.

Overall a very good movie.

I thought the same thing, or they could get away because otherwise it would be too sad

 

[Ethros]

Meh, like the others I don't see the big appeal of these movies. Yeah the effects are amazing, you totally forget and don't even think it's a guy in a mo-cap suit; they just are living, breathing apes. Yeah, that's great. I get that. But I need some story to go with it. And none of these three have overly engaged me that I can understand all the hype they seem to get.
Didn't hate it or anything but just spent most of the time waiting for something to happen or a plot to develop.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I am not sure if I even want to see it. I enjoyed RISE a lot, it added new ideas to the concept. I saw DAWN opening night as a double feature with RISE. But I kept on falling asleep through out DAWN. Nothing really happened at all. THis one seems like more of the same. I might be interested again if they jump ahead about 50 or 100 years to see a real Ape culture develop.

 

[JD]

Posts like these make we wonder if we're getting posts from some alternate dimension, because they I don't think the refer to the movie I saw.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Posts like these make we wonder if we're getting posts from some alternate dimension, because they I don't think the refer to the movie I saw.

I was thinking the same thing. Different strokes for different folks, I suppose, but one thing I would never have described these films is boring. *shrug*

 

[JD]

Yeah, and I thought all three had some of really good, surprisingly deep stories. I honestly think they've had a lot more to them, and a lot more to say than most summer blockbusters. As much as I love things like the MCU, even I'll admit they aren't always the deepest stories.

 

[jbohn]

I re-watched Rise and Dawn in the weeks leading up to the release of War. It's really amazing to see the evolution of these characters, especially Caesar. I think each movie has been a bit better than the last one but the tone and direction has been consistent.

I've seen lots of negative reviews online, saying it's boring and had no story and even the advertising and the name itself misleading. It seems that people were expecting a bloody ape vs. human battle movie. I can kind of see where they're coming from but the previous 2 movies showed us not to expect typical Hollywood summer blockbuster material. I agree the first part is slow, but to me it was an intense slow building up. There were many people seated around me who were totally into it - a few were literally on the edge of their seats. I can't wait to see what direction they take for the next movie.

 

[Noname Given]

I re-watched Rise and Dawn in the weeks leading up to the release of War. It's really amazing to see the evolution of these characters, especially Caesar. I think each movie has been a bit better than the last one but the tone and direction has been consistent.

I've seen lots of negative reviews online, saying it's boring and had no story and even the advertising and the name itself misleading. It seems that people were expecting a bloody ape vs. human battle movie. I can kind of see where they're coming from but the previous 2 movies showed us not to expect typical Hollywood summer blockbuster material. I agree the first part is slow, but to me it was an intense slow building up. There were many people seated around me who were totally into it - a few were literally on the edge of their seats. I can't wait to see what direction they take for the next movie.

Will there be another film - all the ads have been saying this is the final film in the series?

 

[Smellmet]

I hope so, this series has soooo much potential. It's a shame that War hasn't lit up the box office in the same way Dawn did three years ago.

 

[Gojira]

Perfect ending to the trilogy.

I'm disappointed that this would be the last of the new movies....I hope not.

 

[JD]

From some of the interviews I read before the movie came out it did sound like they have ideas for more movies. This is the end of Caesar's story, but not necessarily the end of the entire series.

 

[jbohn]

I hope so, this series has soooo much potential. It's a shame that War hasn't lit up the box office in the same way Dawn did three years ago.

I agree and I'm actually quite surprised it didn't do better.

 

[Smellmet]

Saw it last night. Really enjoyed it, but damn that is one bleak movie. First impressions are that I slightly prefer the first two. I think they had more engaging stories and characters. I need to see it again to properly appraise it I feel.