Part primate road movie, part monkey version of the Great Escape/Spartacus - War for Planet of the Apes is more a few skirmishes than all out war. But despite not quite living up to the promise of the title, it's still an absorbing if overlong conclusion to the prequel trilogy.Much of that comes down to the ape performances and accompanying CGI. In some cases, though notably not the main protagonist, Caesar, the CGI is now so good to be near indistinguishable from the real thing. Maurice, the orang-utan remains particularly impressive and lifelike. As a result, I think it would be rare person who wasn't rooting for the apes by the end of this movie. I wasn't a fan of Zahn's Bad Ape though which seemed to be shoehorning in some unnecessary humour.
On the human side, Harrelson's Kurtz like Colonel is unusually and chillingly humourless - and given unexpected depth when his level of personal sacrifice is revealed. Miller's debut is also amazingly good given the restrictions on her character.
A word also to the score, it uses tribal rhythms in a non-cliched manner which occasionally recalls the missus' homeland of Borneo. Some of the key action scenes are otherwise soundless and unusually cut to the music which is as breathtaking as Baby Driver.
My favourite of the trilogy is still the first with its more intimate human-ape relationships and greater distance from the original films.
Verdict: Good Ape End.
Just watched it after stumbling across your review which reminded me we hadn't watched it yet! :)
ReplyDeleteWe really liked the bad ape and thought it was a nice lightening of the mood in what is otherwise a very dark film. Otherwise fully agree on all the rest, really great (gr-ape?!) movie!