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Caesar (Andy Serkis) and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless colonel (Woody Harrelson). After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. As the journey finally brings them face to face, Caesar and the colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both of their species and the future of the planet. – 20th Century Fox

Here’s another one of my most anticipated summer movies. This movie is quite incredible. I remember seeing Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and liking it quite a bit but I wasn’t itching for a sequel. Then I saw Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and I was like wow this is quite good. Now I’ve seen War for the Planet of the Apes and it’s vastly different genre wise from the first two but it is easily my favorite one. I never had an affinity for the originals but these certainly give me some appreciation for them.

Matt Reeves and Mark Bomback wrote the film, Reeves also directed it. After seeing this movie I am 100% confident The Batman is in good hands. You would think a movie starring mostly CGI characters would be hard for a director but Reeves makes it look easy. The movie is shot well. The characters barely speak so it gives you more time to take in the scenes and wow. This movie looks good. The movie sounds good too, the score compliments the film quite well. The score by Michael Giacchino is incredible. In a film with such little dialogue the score is needed to tell us what the characters can’t tell us. Giacchino’s score does just that.

Andy Serkis is back as Caesar, sometimes you forget that he is playing a CGI character. Caesar is an excellent protagonist. Serkis deserves the best actor nomination. It has been an incredible journey watching Caesar develop as a character across the trilogy. Caesar has become more and more human across the movies. Besides Caesar there are many returning characters and some new ones. All the apes look incredible, many times watching the movie I would forget that the apes aren’t real. Apes from the first two are back. Rocket and Maurice are back to name a few. We also have newcomer Steve Zahn as Bad Ape. Bad Ape is the comic relief of the movie and he is very much needed. War for the Planet of the Apes is a very emotional heavy movie and without Bad Ape it may have been a little too bleak and desolate. I am not giving out any spoilers but at one point he wears a beanie and a vest. Some new humans joined the franchise too. Woody Harrelson as the Colonel and Amiah Miller as Nova. For starters Nova is adorable, she is a cute little girl who through a series of events is taken in by the apes. I expect to see more of Amiah Miller in movies. The Colonel was terrifying, he was an excellent villain. He really thinks he is the hero of the story and you can sort of understand where he is coming from. He understands that it was the hubris of man that destroyed man and he is trying to right the wrongs of other humans. He was incredible in the role, his acting was great but the character was just written perfectly.

War for the Planet of the Apes is just an incredible movie, so different from other ones yet so alike. I never thought I would get so emotional watching an Ape movie but wow this movie is heavy in a good way. The script for this movie is just written very well. The apes were more human than humans, this movie made me root against my own species. Everything in this movie has a place, there was no filler content at all. This movie wasn’t exactly as I expected but that was for the better. With the inclusion of the word “war” in the title you may assume there is a war, well there is but it is actually quite small. The real war is an internal war Caesar is having. He is fighting himself from becoming like Koba. Koba was hellbent on getting revenge on the humans for what they did to him. Caesar follows the same path of Koba.

I really can’t say enough good things about this movie, it really is beautiful.

I give War for the Planet of the Apes a 10 out of 10, would watch again.

“Apes strong together.”

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