WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APESÂ (12)
D: Matt Reeves
20th Century Fox/TSG (Peter Chernin, Dylan Clark, Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver)
USA 🇺🇸 2017
140 mins
Science Fiction/Action
W: Mark Bomback & Matt Reeves [based on characters created by Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver]
DP: Michael Seresin
Ed: William Hoy & Stan Salfas
Mus: Michael Giacchino
Andy Serkis (Caesar), Woody Harrelson (The Colonel), Steve Zahn (Bad Ape), Karin Konoval (Maurice), Terry Notary (Rocket), Ty Olsson (Red), Amiah Miller (Nova)
The third film of Planet Of The Apes prequel series, following Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes and Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes ties events even closer to the original 1968 movie (or the 2001 remake, if you wish).
War between ape and man has raged on for years, and the last human survivors hunt for Caesar, the leader of his tribe, who would much rather have peace, but not at the expense of his species.Â
Woody Harrelson plays a psychotic army Colonel who locates the tribe and imprisons them in a concentration camp, where their slave labour assists with the building of a huge wall which is planned to keep out a human contingent which the Colonel fears are against him and his plans.
The plot has rather unsubtle parallels with real events from the Second World War which don't work as well as they could, but the film does manage to stay both entertaining and enjoyable, helped with amazing visual effects which are even better than the two preceding films.Â
Though it's a motion capture performance, Andy Serkis truly does a brilliant job in the lead performance, and you'd be forgiven in thinking that it was a real chimpanzee delivering such realistic work.
7/10