War for the Planet of the Apes

As the title suggests, the latest from the surprisingly robust Planet of the Apes reboot series plunges us into a war-torn world, where a renegade brigade of humans has taken the battle to the apes. Caesar, the melancholy king of the apes (played once again by Andy Serkis), is suffering from a form of PTSD after the bloody rebellion by his friend Koba (Toby Kebbell) in previous installment Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Our hirsute hero is holding his ape society together by a thread, and his ability as a leader is starting to weaken with some apes betraying their kind in favour of the humans who use them as ‘donkeys’ to carry military gear.

Director Matt Reeves focuses his drama squarely on the internal moral conflict of Caesar, with Serkis surpassing his (excellent) past motion-capture performances, in part aided by further advances in the technology and the work from the New Zealand-based Weta Workshop that captures a remarkable array of facial nuances. Despite multiple attempts by Caesar to broker peace with the humans, war rages on, and with the rise of a new strain of the Simian Flu that leaves susceptible humans deaf and dumb, the conflict intensifies.

The drama is a canny blend of Heart of Darkness with the grandeur of an old Hollywood biblical epic, peppered with some intense set pieces. While there is a grandeur to the action, Reeves isn’t afraid of spending down time on quieter, dialogue heavy moments. The finest of these are shared by Caesar and graceful orangutan Maurice (beautifully portrayed by Karin Konoval), where the choice between war and fleeing to a promised oasis on the border is debated.

Aesthetically, these ape films are downers, and the gunmetal grey tones and sober atmosphere could prove to be too heavy for some. But Reeves does introduce some welcome humour in this instalment in the form of a new character – Bad Ape, played with comically tragic glee by Steve Zahn – who lightens the mood.

On the human side, Woody Harrelson impresses as The Colonel. He is a megalomaniac military leader, ruling over his cult of heavily-armed troops intriguingly marked with alpha and omegas on their helmets. The intensity of his performance is ferocious, making for the perfect counterpoint to the pacifism of Caesar, who was always the reluctant warrior leader.

This is Reeves’ second Apes film, and he breathes fresh life into the franchise, making for a quality blockbuster that stands out against the other summer movie fare. What remains the most remarkable element of this series is the humanity of the ape characters, who feel more human than human. That's a credit to the blend of CGI technologies and the acting skill of the performers, showing we’re close to entering a brave new world where the uncanny valley could be a thing of the past.