WELCOME TO THE APE-OCALYPSE
War for the Planet of the Apes keeps franchise fresh with nod to a classic war film.
“Ape-ocalypse Now!” a scrawled cave sign reads in this bleak third chapter of the Planet of the Apes prequel franchise, but the reference to Apocalypse Now is hardly needed.
The relentlessly dark War for the Planet of the Apesis steeped in the same existential despair that permeated Francis Ford Coppola’s anti-war classic, wherein the rational mind struggles with the insanity of existence.
As Martin Sheen’s stoic Willard was to Marlon Brando’s unhinged Col. Kurtz, sent on a mission to atone for his sins, so are the main combatants of War for the Planet of the Apes: Andy Serkis’ primate leader Caesar, fighting his baser instincts as he reluctantly prepares for a winner-take-all battle with humans led by Woody Harrelson’s brutally expedient Colonel.
War for the Planet of the Apes is homage writ large, one that assumes you get its many cinematic references, which also include a nod to German Expressionism in Steve Zahn’s comic-relief Bad Ape character, who resembles the undead Nosferatu.
War for the Planet of the Apes (out of 4) Starring Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Steve Zahn, Amiah Miller, Terry Notary, Karin Konoval. Directed by Matt Reeves. Opens Friday at GTA theatres. 140 minutes. 14A
The film skates past the first two chapters of the prequel franchise: the virus and hubris of Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) that gave apes intelligence and agency while nearly wiping out humanity; and the power struggles of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), set a decade later, which saw Caesar fight the external human threat and the internal challenges of vengeful bonobo Koba, voiced by Toby Kebbell.
Kebbell is now gone, as are many other familiar characters, but his lust for revenge threatens to lodge itself in Caesar, who insists he wants only to live peacefully apart from humans: “Koba still haunts us,” he says wearily.
Fortunately Caesar has the loyal Maurice (Karin Konoval), an empathetic orangutan, to turn to when his inner King Kong threatens to break out.
Maurice becomes the adoptive caregiver of an orphan human girl, played by Amiah Miller, who strongly recalls the plucky Newt from Aliens (yet another movie reference), and who eventually gets a name that will resonate with the Planet of the Apes fans.
The Colonel has other ideas, naturally, demonstrated early in a raid on the apes’ jungle lair that proves to Caesar the folly of trying to remain a pacifist in dealing with an enemy who seeks only to subjugate and eventually exterminate apes. Caesar wants peace but he’s prepared to shed human blood to get it: “Now I fight only to protect apes,” he vows.
Dawndirector Matt Reeves returns to helm this chapter and also to again co-write with Mark Bomback. Their instincts for the series remain sound.
Unlike the original Planet of the Apes franchise, which got sillier as it went along, Reeves and Bomback are determined to keep this extended prequel smart and the dialogue impressively lean, even as the story begins to wear as it stretches towards the two-and-a-half-hour mark.
(Much of the ape communication is by gestures, even though most or all of them can presumably speak English.)
The real star of this show, now and for always, is Andy Serkis as Caesar. It’s impossible to praise too lavishly how he’s created a completely believ- able character, even with all the digital “makeup” that transform him from human to apes.
His eyes burn brightly like those of Blake’s Tyger as he stares out from the jungle at his human adversaries and ponders: Who are the real animals here?