Caesar's War

          The Planet of the Apes films have always faced a bit of challenge in terms of story investment. Ever since the first film’s iconic twist, all the subsequent prequels have had to deal with the fact we know where this is all headed. It’s largely what kept the Apes movies after the second one from being very impactful. But this recent Apes reboot trilogy did a very smart thing by making it as much about the journey of its hero Caesar, as the journey toward the eventual planet ruled by apes. War for the Planet of the Apes ostensibly understands this more than either of its predecessors, and for that reason, it may be the best of the three.
          Caesar (Andy Serkis) has been trying to keep his growing clan of apes safe in their woodland home, but a surviving human military faction has been waging war. When their Colonel (Woody Harrelson) ambushes the ape fortress and kills Caesar’s family, Caesar embarks on a quest of vengeance which leads him to the Colonel’s compound and an unexpected motivation behind this conflict.
          I feel some might be disappointed that for a movie called War for the Planet of the Apes, it’s not quite as battle-heavy as they may expect. It never amounts to a legion of apes fighting a legion of humans; rather, both combatants have relatively small numbers, and the focus is for most of the film on one location and the conflict between individuals and psyches. It’s quite a lot like Bridge on the River Kwai in fact, especially a plot point about apes being made into a workforce for the enemy. But I quite like this as it’s far more interesting when the war is personal. The environment is also very different, with most of the action taking place in the winter near the U.S.-Canada border. 
          Like Dawn, this movie is loosely based on Battle for the Planet of the Apes, the last of the original series of films (Rise was a loose remake of Conquest). But this film is much more driven by fulfilling Caesar’s arc and setting up, with greater drama, the series’ mythology. There are plenty of references, such as the name of Caesar’s son being Cornelius, and a human girl whom Caesar’s party picks up from an abandoned encampment. But the Colonel especially is a more interesting figure than the one-dimensional villain he initially seems to be, and his actions are rooted in an important aspect of the series’ lore that hasn’t been addressed previously in these reboot films. The way it’s handled with insight into our basest behaviour and self-destruction is terrific. 
          This movie belongs to Caesar though, and Andy Serkis once again proves how versatile a performer he is. He’s revolutionized motion-capture in film and single-handedly proven one can generate a powerful performance through it. The Caesar of War has grown a lot since Rise, and carries with him the wounds of Dawn. Though still empathetic to some humans, he’s become much more jaded now, and fears on his path to destroy the Colonel, that he’s becoming like Koba (Toby Kebbell), the ape who drew first blood in this war, and whom Caesar is still haunted by. He’s not always trying to do the right thing and he knows it. The line of morality is significantly greyed in this film at a number of vantages. There are a couple Uncle Tom apes, for example. Despite this, there’s still plenty of Moses symbolism, Caesar’s whole journey over the three movies having very Biblical themes, and it’s clear this is his final trial before he can achieve peace for ape-kind. And Serkis is absolutely fantastic at conveying all of this, the emotion, defiance, and pressure on him to lead and protect his people. Caesar speaks a lot more in this film, which I was worried about. And while there are times it’s a little awkward given all the other apes still communicate largely through sign language, it does allow Serkis a lot more freedom.
          He’s rejoined in this film by his posse of Maurice the wise orangutan, Rocket his lieutenant, and Luca the tough gorilla, played respectively by Karin Konoval, Terry Notary, and Michael Adamthwaite. Steve Zahn’s reclusive Bad Ape serves as an important plot device, but is thereafter relegated to comic relief and is definitely one of the films’ shortcomings. Woody Harrelson is great as the Colonel, espousing the mad isolationism and principled harshness of his character. None of the other humans, except for the rescued girl, are in any way significant -which is probably for the best considering this series has a habit of dropping important human characters without resolution. We can only assume James Franco and Frida Pinto are dead, and will never know what became of Jason Clarke’s family.
          As the third chapter in a movie trilogy that just got better and better, War for the Planet of the Apes is pretty triumphant. It does exactly what it needs to in completing the arc of Caesar. It’s well-written and directed, and the motion capture is still impressive. It may have some comic relief and pacing problems, but I’ll take that from a franchise that’s managed to exceed expectations of its brand name and become an astonishing simian saga.