War for the Planet of the Apes

     War for the Planet of the Apes is directed by Matt Reeves (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) and stars Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings), Woody Harrelson (Zombieland), and Steve Zahn (Diary of a Wimpy Kid). Caesar returns in the supposed finale to the rebooted Apes trilogy as he continues his quest to protect his apes, as well as avenge unimaginable losses.
     Having never seen any of the original Apes films, I nevertheless have enjoyed the first two entries to this new trilogy and was highly anticipating this entry. I even decided to watch the marathon of Apes films in anticipation of the new film.
     The best part of War for the Planet of the Apes lies in the motion capture technology and performances. Watching the films in order helped to show the progression of the technology from 2011 to today. The apes looked amazingly lifelike and I was honestly astonished by the performances given through motion capture. Andy Serkis's performance was incredibly poignant and should be in awards talk for next season (although I highly doubt he would ever get it due to the lack of forward thinking by Academy voters). Harrelson also gives a great performance but unfortunately the film gives him little to do.
     Without going into spoilers, the film ended on the perfect note. It not only concluded the trilogy, but it also set up future films without being tacky.
     Although technically speaking the film was flawless, on a story level it left something to be desired. The title is complete miss marketing so do not go into this film expecting an action fest or you will probably be disappointed (like myself). Also, Bad Ape, motion captured by Steve Zahn, took me out of the movie whenever he was on screen. I understand what Reeves and the creative team was trying to do with the character, but it did not work for me. In fact I would consider him on the level of Jar Jar Binks. The human girl character felt completely superfluous and her role in the film did not make much sense to me. I felt like twenty minutes could have easily been trimmed from the movie without it skipping a beat and it would have been better for it.
     While War for the Planet of the Apes was fun to look it, once I sat down to think about it a little longer, I am ultimately disappointed by the product that was delivered, yet still hopeful for the future of the franchise.

When should you watch it?
Dollar Theater