War for the Planet of the Apes

It's time to go ape again. Fox's rebooted apes are back again for their trilogy-capper, War for the Planet of the Apes. It's a way to go for these darn, dirty apes.

Caesar (Andy Serkis) and his clan of intelligent apes are still fighting armies of angry humans. One army, Alpha-Omega, even has turncoat apes in its ranks. One night, Alpha-Omega pays an unwelcome visit to Caesar's home base and their leader, the Colonel (Woody Harrelson), kills Caesar's wife and eldest son. Caesar decides to get back at the Colonel while the apes trek to a safe haven in the desert. A few apes join Caesar on his quest.

The brain-boosting virus that enhanced Caesar and the apes now has the opposite effect for humans. One such victim is Nova (Amiah Miller), a human girl they adopt into their clan. An eccentric chimp hermit, Bad Ape (Steve Zahn), leads them to Alpha-Omega's base. The Apes are there, prisoners of the Colonel, who demands they build him a wall without food or water. Caesar has to stand up to the Colonel to get his Apes out of there before Alpha-Omega's human enemies do (long story). But he worries about succumbing to the dark side like Koba (Toby Kebbell), the vengeful ape who haunts his dreams.

The motion capture effects continue the visual standard of the series. The apes still don't look out of place interacting with real people and environments. Their textures are indistinguishable from real apes. Each individual ape stands out even in a crowd of 50 chimpanzees or gorillas.

While some may wonder if this will finally get a visual effects Oscar for the new, improved Apes series, my question is "will this get an Oscar nomination for something beyond visual effects?" There's much to admire in the technical department. The sound designers crafted a bunch of fierce Ape screams and shouts, explosions and other powerful sound effects. Michael Giacchino has another memorable score, one which starts off with an eerie rendition of the Fox fanfare. Michael Seresin's cinematography and William Hoy & Stan Salfas' editing also enforce the moods. The production design is also awards worthy.

The acting also works, again. The motion capture apes feel as alive as the humans who played them. It's especially so with Caesar, who struggles to do the right thing throughout the movie. Zahn as Bad Ape provides much needed comic relief with his odd quirks. So what about the human villain? Harrelson's Colonel does some vile things but his last moments leave him a pitiful wreck. That's quite an accomplishment.

War for the Planet of the Apes is advertised as the finale of this rejuvenated story. It ends on such a strong note that you'll wonder where they'll go from here. I'm kinda into seeing a redo of the original Planet of the Apes with the new trilogy's motion capture apes. But how will they work stuff like time-travel into this setting? I hope whatever they do has the same story quality as this trilogy did. That's what helped it earn its second cinematic life.