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07/27/2017 12:01 AMRated PG-13
With each sequel in the recent Planet of the Apes series, ape characters become more absorbing and often more humane than the humans threatening their existence. Since Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, more people have contracted the deadly virus that strips away language and brain power. Caesar is still the head honcho of the ape population, this time hiding from the diabolical Colonel, played as pure evil by Woody Harrelson (Wilson, LBJ), with his troops, out to enslave apes and kill their human opposition forces. When The Colonel descends on Caesar’s group, in a dramatic drop inside a waterfall, he kills Caesar’s wife and son. Caesar—played again by the incredible Andy Serkis (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), who exquisitely embodies the chimp with language skills, and expresses ferocity and empathy just by using his haunted eyes—seeks revenge for his family’s death.
The situation for apes and humans isn’t complex, just identifiable. Apes are developing human traits and humanity is descending into darkness. One cheers for the apes in this time period, because they demonstrate what is desirable in humanity, except for one or two who betray their group. Caesar’s struggle with rage and revenge makes the going tougher for him and his followers, but gives him more dimension, and makes him more human. The Colonel has personal reasons for his rampage, but he has lost his humanity.
Some of the actors playing apes reprise their roles from former Planet movies, and some new characters appear, such as the young, wide-eyed Amiah Miller (Lights Out, TV’s MacGyver) as Nova, a mute girl found after Caesar and his band of cohorts shoot her father. They realize that the father was protecting his daughter from being killed by humans who annihilate those with the virus. Maurice, played again by Karin Konoval, who appeared in Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, nurtures and mentors Nova along the way.
The very needed comic relief is Bad Ape, a little rogue chimp, having escaped the hell of war, played by Steve Zahn (Captain Fantastic, Dallas Buyers Club), who charms his way into Caesar’s group. He exhibits the only humor in the film (the humans have lost their ability to laugh) when he holds binoculars backwards, and also rattles with fear in the face of just about everything.
Director and co-writer, Matt Reeves (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Cloverfield) shows perfect pitch blending stark landscapes and interiors to match the ravages of war. The camera draws upward for a long shot on the military forces lined up in the concentration camp-like compound to honor, like Hitler, The Colonel, then drops back in for a close-up of him calmly shaving his head. The inside of a demolished house is reminiscent of the ice-covered cottage in Dr. Zhivago. Snow covers everything inside—the crumbling walls, remnants of furniture, torn up floors. Winter prevails, and coats apes and humans alike with bitter frost before the war explodes in fire.
Still, there are also panoramic scenes of a pristine earth, as yet untouched by war. The apes are in search of a haven beyond the desert to resume their lives in peace. The end of the film certainly sets up another phase for the series, one with emerging ape leaders and less, one would think, about escaping human cruelty.
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