Review: Planet of the Apes - War

Here is the Conclusion of the Trilogy

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Launched in 1968, The Planet of the Apes has become a Cult and one of the most famous ideas in pop culture: an astronaut falls on an unknown planet, which is dominated by stronger and more intelligent monkeys, who treat humans like animals. The film had four sequels and a remake by Tim Burton, in 2001, which does not deserve to be commented. Ten years later, Fox decided to reboot the series with the great Planet of the apes the origin, who would tell how monkeys dominated the planet, with the chimpanzee César, played by Andy Serkis through motion capture. The film was an unexpected success, pleasing both audiences and critics alike and continued in 2014, Planet of the Apes: The Showdown that managed to be as good as the first. Now, the cycle closes with this new film, Planet of the Apes: War and the result remains above average.

The film takes place just after the events of the previous film, when Koba (Toby Kebbell) decides to attack a city with human survivors of the virus that almost wiped out humanity. Humans declare war on monkeys and are led by cold and terrible Colonel (Woody Harrelson). Caesar (Andy Serkis) still believes in peace between the two peoples, but will realize that the Colonel does not share the same idea.

Planeta dos Macacos: A Guerra
Planet of the Apes: War | Image: Fox Films

Matt Reeves returns to the direction and signs the script along with Mark Bomback (Wolverine immortal). Reeves does an excellent job as a director. It is very rare to have a blockbuster like the one that focuses so much on the drama. During the 140 minutes of film, there are only two major action sequences. The rest is built through tension, with Reeves along with the photography of Michael Seresin. Notice how light and shadow are used, always leaving half the actors' faces covered by the shadow. This happens when the characters are in moments of important actions that shows the characters are torn between love and hate. Still in photography, which together with James Chinlund's art direction - both guided by Reeves' direction - create a visual logic that focuses on how the world is destroyed. Just note that most of the scenarios are sad and lifeless, with the exception of the monkey village. As the director uses open plans for much of the film, this increases the feeling of loneliness in the world. And always avoiding the camera shake cliché and with very calm camera movements and plans that increase tension.

One of the strongest points of Reeves' direction is in his direction as actors. It is a classic direction, which remains in the eyes of the actors for a long time, leaving this characteristic to be fundamental to tell the story. The script avoids free exposure leaving the cast's body expression as the main element of the narrative. In fact, the scarf is very well fitted and everyone shows excellent performances. Andy Serkis creates a human and expressive Caesar that manages to become increasingly credible - this is due to the great performance of the actor, in addition to the special effect - using his whole body. The rest of the cast that plays the monkeys shows up very well, with emphasis on Steve Zahn who becomes the comic relief of the film, even though he is displaced in some moments of the film. Of the humans, newcomer Amiah Miller is pleasantly surprised to have chemistry with the monkeys and is mature in the moments that demand it, while Woody Harrelson who has a few minutes on screen does a very strong job. As much as the Colonel may be seen as a cruel and cold villain, Harrelson's performance leaves him with more layers that make him more human.

Planeta dos Macacos: A Guerra
Planet of the Apes: War | Image: Fox Films

Another factor that makes the film tension uninterrupted is the excellent soundtrack. Michael Giacchino. It is one of his most inspired works ever, as it is a track that complements the feeling of the scene, instead of saying what you need to feel. As it is a production with few dialogues it was important that the soundtrack was not too heavy and Giacchino's work is punctual. In addition to having very well composed and exciting themes.

Since everything is not just praise, Planet of the Apes: War has a problem with its duration. As I said, it is a 140-minute work that feels like it could have been cut at least 15 minutes. In addition to the film being swollen, with an excess of dramatic cores from the second to the third act, which end up delaying the story. Another problem is in the exposure to a large reference that is made twice, the second time it seems screaming.

That said, there's no denying that this is one of the great films of the year. This trilogy of Planets of the Apes did very well and showed how to do a good reboot. Three features that recounted a story that turned out to be a good idea, instead of simply remaking the original film.

See the technical sheet and full list of Planet of the Apes: The War

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