War for the Planet of the Apes

War for the Planet of the Apes is the third in the rebooted trilogy from the original Planet of the Apes saga from the 60's and 70's. More than likely based on the resounding critical and audience response from these three films this wont be the last but if it is in fact the finale let me just say...WOW!

As is the case with any traditional trilogy if you haven't seen the previous two you should actually stop what you're doing and watch them...Now that you're back you know how exceptional in quality they both are and that two in a trilogy are of equal or greater quality to each other is rare enough and it is this reviewers opinion that the third exceeds all expectations and is quite simply an extraordinary conclusion to this trilogy that is smart, groundbreaking, ambitious, emotional and for lack of anymore adjectives is EPIC in every sense of the word.

Summarizing the plot is really an injustice to everything that is going on around you during the film and the little you know the better. It does continue the story of Caesar, the leader of the genetically evolved apes. Due to the outcome of the second film Dawn of the Planet of the Apes it is both known by ape and human that war is inevitable. A sect of the human army is led by a sadistic colonel played by the outstanding Woody Harrelson (The People vs. Larry Flynt). Caesar still pines for peace but due to circumstances beyond his control that path can no longer be treaded and he is forced to face demons from his past to preserve his and his fellow apes future. Being as all the titles of the film have "Planet of the Apes" somewhere in there it's not a major spoiler to figure out where all this is leading to but the journey to that  point is what makes this series so special.

What also makes this series special is the continuing evolution of the motion capture performance by human Andy Serkis as the ape Caesar. Along with the films the technology to capture these performances has evolved as well. No longer needing to be hampered down by gobs of makeup and prosthetics there are real performances here from real actors, Steve Zahn and Judy Greer are other well known names who capture the movement and emotion in these apes. It will not be long before an actor will be recognized with an Oscar for a motion capture performance and I see no reason why Serkis can't be the first one.

Continuing his vision from "Dawn" director and co-screenwriter Matt Reeves unfolds visually breathtaking scenes along with scenes of little dialogue but with a lot of importance. These are smart blockbusters for smart people, studios get a lot of guff from people (myself included) regarding remakes and reboots but War for the Planet of the Apes shows that when its down right it can almost make you forget about those original damn dirty apes.


 10 out of 10 donkeys