Fitting final showdown between mankind and primates

War for the Planet of the Apes

(Cert 12, 140 mins)

Twelve years have passed since the ALZ-113 virus ravaged the globe. Caesar (Andy Serkis), his wife Cornelia (Judy Greer) and their sons Blue Eyes (Max Lloyd-Jones) and Cornelius (Devyn Dalton) are living in exile in the woods with the rest of the apes.

The outcasts include wise Bornean orang-utan Maurice (Karin Konoval), chimpanzee Rocket (Terry Notary) and brave Western lowland gorilla Luca (Michael Adamthwaite).

Under the cover of darkness, Colonel McCullough (Woody Harrelson, below) and his sharp-shooting soldiers stage an assault on the ape stronghold and kill most of Caesar’s family.

The grief-stricken leader orders the survivors to flee in search of a new home while he exacts revenge on the Colonel.

Maurice, Rocket and

Luca defy Caesar’s orders and join their leader on the long and arduous trek to locate the military in their mountainside stronghold.

This is a fitting conclusion to rebooted sci-fi franchise, orches- trating a cataclysmic showdown between the last remnants of mankind and primates.

So much of Matt Reeves’ picture relies on motion-capture effects to translate performances of a gifted human cast into richly textured animal warriors. The results are jaw-dropping.

The director harnesses technical might without obscuring the raw emotions coursing beneath each frame. Serkis delivers a tour-de-force portrayal of a leader gnarled by the desire for revenge.