"War for the Planet of the Apes" is Nothing Short of a Masterpiece

   People who know me will be shocked about the confession I will make here in this opening paragraph. It is quite aparrent that I love movies. The Lord of the Rings trilogy changed my world in so many ways. Those three films accomplished something that no other franchise was able to do. They told a grand, over-arcing story over the course of three movies, while each movie - in and of itself - were complete films with story arc and character development. They were epic spectacles that pushed the limits of movie technology in a way that had every epic that came after trying to emulate that same formula. The era of motion-capture was birthed through the geniuses at WETA who digitized the iconic Gollum over the unforgettable performance of Andy Serkis, who has since been the golden standard in motion-capture performances. On top of that, they were long movies that produced longer versions that fans enjoy more as the definitive versions of the films. That trilogy is probably the best trilogy ever produced on film, hands down. Many have tried to reach its level of awesomeness, but ultimately failed. Even the Middle-earth prequel trilogy of The Hobbit (which I absolutely love) falls short of The Lord of the Rings. All of this being said, I had the privilege earlier this week of watching a marathon in theaters of a current trilogy whose third and final installment opens this weekend, that being the current Planet of the Apes franchise. I'm so glad I got to watch each of these films back to back, leading up to the epicness that is War for the Planet of the Apes, because I got to see the entire arc of the trilogy from beginning to end. After taking a day to really let the events of that marathon - and the events in particular of War - to sink in, I've come to the conclusion that this current Planet of the Apes trilogy is by far the BEST trilogy since Lord of the Rings, and a lot of that has to do with how masterful and epic War for the Planet of the Apes truly is.

   Set a couple of years after the events of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, War continues the story of ape leader Caesar and his struggle to maintain peace between apes and humans. At the end of Dawn, the human faction in San Francisco had contacted a military unit. That unit we learn in this film has a specific agenda: wipe out the apes. After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. This movie is a dark, brutal, harrowing display of the horrors of war with holocaust-like overtones, beautifully shot and brilliantly directed and acted. This movie was not at all what I was expecting. With a title like War for the Planet of the Apes, one would assume there to be a host of action sequences and brutal violence. You will not find that in this movie. There is some action, not nearly as much as there was in the previous film, but this movie didn't need two hours of battles to get its message across. War is easily the best of the three (in my book) and that is something rare in a trilogy. Look at Sam Raimi's Spider-man trilogy for example. Spider-man 2: FANTASTIC. Spider-man 3: A LOADED MESS. Again, not since The Lord of the Rings has the third installment been greater than the previous installments. War for the Planet of the Apes is a masterclass in filmmaking on many levels, despite it being the third of its franchise.

   The tone of the movie is dark, as I mentioned before. Over the course of this franchise we've seen Caesar grow and develop into the leader fit for the chaotic world that is created. He seeks only peace and solitude for his kind and wants nothing to do with the humans so long as they can live in harmony. By the time the events of War ensue, Caesar is slightly more jaded towards the humans who seek to harm his friends and family. This is an extremely intriguing aspect to his character because as we know from the first film, Caesar was raised by humans and has always had a soft spot for them. It's this soft spot that the antagonist from the second film, the deceitful ape Koba, questions Caesar's leadership and ultimately betrays him in order to start the war against the humans that is seen in this film. The complexity of Caesar's character is what drives these stories because at the end of the day, the overarching narrative through all three films is really Caesar's story. The emphasis placed on his story and character development would have been completely lost, I think, in the midst of some grand war spectacle. Because we care about Caesar, the few action sequences we do get become more meaningful; and what's really interesting and what I think is one of the greater strengths of this film is that 90% of War is focused primarily on Caesar and the apes. The human characters are very minimal. Writer Mark Bomback and writer/director Matt Reeves made a balsy move to make a film that is mostly focused on these computer-generated apes, and it pays off.

   That brings me to the next strength of the film. The special effects in this movie are some of the best I have ever seen. There were honestly moments as I watched War where I forgot the apes were computer-generated. They look so real! This movie easily boasts the best motion-capture work ever seen in a film. There is a character, an orangutan named Maurice, who I couldn't help but be in awe of as I watched him on screen. The dreaded-up hair hanging from his arms to his flat face and emotion-filled eyes; I was convinced that maybe they used practical suits and superimposed the features digitally. Not true. Every ape you see is computer-generated, and if this movie doesn't take home the Oscar for best visual effects, there's something wrong in this world. Along those lines, the apes - despite how real they look - wouldn't work if the actors playing them didn't do their characters justice. There are some amazing performances in the movie, particularly from three individuals. Steve Zahn plays a new character to the franchise, an ape named Bad Ape. This is a character meant to be the comic relief (which is welcomed in this dark third chapter), and this character could have easily bombed from being over-the-top, but Zahn captures the innocence of the character and delivers an organically-comedic performance that works within the world of the film and doesn't detract from the story. There is a human girl named Nova played by Amiah Miller. She literally has no dialogue in the entire film for reasons you'll have to find out for yourself. Her performance is strictly based on expression and she knocks it out of the park.

   By and large the stand out performance of the film, and arguably the entire franchise, is Andy Serkis as Caesar. For those who don't know or don't quite understand, when it comes to motion-capture, the actors do everything. They are literally acting the part and the visual effects artists place the digital characters over the performance. The character's expressions are the actor's expressions. Their movements are the actor's movements. To be able to convey a sense of humanity within a digital ape takes more than just a host of clicks on a computer. Andy Serkis helped revolutionize this art form through Gollum on the Lord of the Rings, and he has since been the champion of that art form. Caesar is currently Serkis' crown jewel, in my opinion. What Serkis is able to do with just an expression is astounding. Couple that with the amazing work done by the geniuses behind the visual effects and you get the best motion capture performance of all time, if you ask me. Caesar is a character that reflects humanity as humanity itself crumbles around him. You can see in Caesar's eyes the pain and anguish of loss, the hatred and burning vengeance towards the antagonist of this movie (The Colonel, played by Woody Harrelson), and the love and happiness when those he serves are safe or happy. Those are very human-esque qualities that cannot be duplicated artificially. Serkis embodies the character and it is seen through the performance on screen. The man deserves an Oscar for this performance. It's truly astounding.

   The narrative of War for the Planet of the Apes takes some twists and makes some decisions that I was really surprised to see. There is an interesting plot element that is introduced in connection with the humans that really adds to the meat of the story, and there are some creative narrative choices that may seem disturbing but ultimately add to this visceral masterpiece. War for the Planet of the Apes is just plain brilliant. It takes its time to show you the events rather than tell you. So many times movies use exposition throughout to explain things. There is literally one small scene of exposition in the entire movie. One. Woody Harrelson's character takes a moment to discuss things with Caesar and in that brief discussion we learn a little bit about the history and some information we need, and that's it. The movie is engaging, entertaining, epic, with fantastic writing, exceptional acting, impressive visual effects, mind-boggling cinematography - while telling a story that is harrowing, emotional, and inspiring. It is not the summer blockbuster you would expect it to be, but in every way I'm glad it isn't. War for the Planet of the Apes is a fitting end to an outstanding trilogy that (in my book) only has The Lord of the Rings to rival by way of "best trilogy ever made" standards. For this guy, War for the Planet of the Apes is easily one of the best films of the year, hands down.