First Take: War for the Planet of the Apes- it all ends here

SYNOPSIS: After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar
wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge
his kind.

So, the Planet of the Apes franchise is back. Some people
are still baffled by its stories, others are stunned at the quality of the
motion capture work. This new one might be the best entry yet, and it might
also be the darkest because of how brutal it gets.

Matt Reeves returns to the director’s chair following his
work on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and once again he does an excellent job
on this film. Sure, this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but he paces it well,
and he gets some incredible performances to compliment the script written by him
and Mark Bomback. It goes without saying that the CG is incredible throughout, creating some of the most moving images of the entire series as a result. It’s shot really well by Michael Seresin, with some
incredible shots throughout the film, and once again, it’s another Michael
Giacchino score to soundtrack one of the most brutal war scenes ever shown in a
12a certificate film. Long time fans of the Apes franchise will have a field
day with this film.

Performance wise, this is the best performance I’ve seen
Andy Serkis deliver for several years, once again proving why he is Hollywood’s
go-to guy for performance capture, and working alongside series veterans Terry Notary,
Karin Konoval and Judy Greer, the apes feel the most believable they have ever
done in any of the films in this trilogy, and once Steve Zahn’s Bad Ape is added to the mix, we have a group of really likeable characters to take us through the 2 hour 19 minute running time. However, the casting of Woody
Harrelson as The Colonel raised a few heads in my audience, and the general
consensus was that he had been miscast- but aside from that, he puts in some
great work as ever.

THE VERDICT

Powerful, dark, and emotionally moving, War for the Planet
of the Apes serves as a fitting ending to this trilogy of films, and a really
good way to christen the first of the newly refurbished screens to open at my local cinema.
It’s best enjoyed on the biggest screens, and ideally very loud.

RATING: 5/5

Read more about the cinema I reviewed this film at (and why
it’s got reclining seats now) in a special Projection Room article on September 7th.