Movie Review: War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)

War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) co-written and directed by Matt Reeves

Caesar (CGI Andy Serkis) and his group of apes tries to hold out in a California forest but they are perpetually hunted by humans. After two harrowing attacks, the second of which resulted in the deaths of Caesar's wife and eldest son, the apes decide to flee to a seeming paradise across a desert. Well, everyone but Caesar decides to go. He wants to take revenge on the Colonel (Woody Harrelson), the leader of the local humans who took a personal hand in killing Caesar's family. Three of the apes decide to go with him to make sure he returns alive to the tribe. Caesar has a difficult journey, both literally and figuratively, ahead of him.

I found the story engrossing and the plot developments interesting. The Colonel is a tough-as-nails villain with just barely enough humanity to make him understandable but certainly not sympathetic. He is superficially modeled after Col. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, a film that is referenced in other ways as well. Almost the entirety of the rest of humanity is unsympathetic and one-dimensional, the one exception being a young, mute girl adopted by the apes on their journey. Caesar and the apes, by contrast, are fully-rounded characters who form the heart and soul of the movie, dealing with issues in a human way. The characterizations are biased, which is especially interesting as the movie grapples with the worthiness of humanity's continued existence. The ultimate answer is consistent with the story and unsatisfying for me.

The movie is interesting but bleak, which I suppose is a core component of the Planet of the Apes franchise. This movie is particularly bleak.

Movie Review: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) directed by Matt Reeves

A decade after the events of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the ape-ocalypse is in full swing. The apes have built a primitive community in the hills outside of San Francisco, where they hunt and gather and speak in sign language. They haven't seen any humans for two years but that changes quickly. Two friends go fishing. As they are walking back they run into a single human male who panics and shoots one of the apes. More humans show up and try to ease the situation. The gunshot is heard by the apes, too, and a bunch of them show up and start shouting "GO!" at the humans. The humans leave but they can't stay away. They are running out of fossil fuels in what's left of San Francisco and want to repair a hydroelectric dam that is near the apes' home. Malcolm, leader of the humans, begins a tense and precarious negotiation with Caesar, leader of the apes. The humans back in Frisco want power at almost any cost (and they do have a lot of weapons); the apes in their community want nothing to do with humans. Can we all get along or will there be all out war?

The movie is very tense and exciting, filled with action and complicated themes and ideas. The apes have a law that no ape kill another ape, which of course gets broken during the course of the movie more than once to great effect. Member of both the ape and the human communities look on the others as lesser beings and as fair game. The leaders work for a more nuanced approach to the others, hoping to preserve peace and well-being for everyone involved. The moral and political tension is just as high as the action tension. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a thoughtful and exciting sequel well worth watching.