GREAT ‘APES’
‘War for the Planet’ evolves as smart and satisfying summer film
‘War for the Planet of the Apes’
Director: Matt Reeves. Cast: Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Steve Zahn.
Rating: PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi violence and action, thematic elements and some disturbing images.
Among the fascinating elements of the mostly terrific “War for the Planet of the Apes,” the final (maybe) film in the rebooted trilogy: Who are we rooting for?
Actually, the answer isn’t too difficult. At this point the apes are more evolved, simply wanting to be left alone to live in a peaceful society.
Humans, not so much. Much of mankind has been wiped out by the virus introduced in the first film that made the apes more intelligent. The apes are led by Caesar (Andy Serkis in one of those jaw-dropping motion-capture performances he’s cornered the market in),
while the Colonel (Woody Harrelson), leading part of a human army, schemes and plots and enslaves apes, when he isn’t killing them. And Caesar — practically a myth at this point — is the ultimate target.
Damn dirty humans, more like. And yet, in some capacity, we’re still them.
Director Matt Reeves, who also cowrote the script, goes full-on “Apocalypse Now” in places (involving the Colonel, mostly, but also in his depiction of the jungle). Not long into the film an act of mercy by Caesar, not quite a pacifist but smart enough to know that war will damage both populations, is mocked by the Colonel, who gives Caesar reason to fight. Not smart. Caesar believes the apes can find a sort of promised land after crossing a desert (this will not be the only Biblical allusion), but he is consumed with revenge, so he leaves the wandering to others. He gathers friends like Maurice (Karin Konoval) and Rocket (Terry Notary) to find the Colonel; they also pick up others, like a mute girl (Amiah Miller), the personification of a new strain of the virus, and Bad Ape (Steve Zahn), a