McCann At The Movies: ‘Apes’ Trilogy Comes To A Satisfactory End

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Our movie guy, John McCann, says ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’ provides a great end to a fantastic trilogy…

As the third and final instalment of the fantastic rebooted trilogy, the pressure was most definitely on director Matt Reeves to produce a film worthy of its place among the two previous outings and give this remarkable series the send-off it deserved.

In War for the Planet of the Apes, after the apes suffer unimaginable losses at the hands of a ruthless Colonel (played by the brilliant Woody Harreslon), Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own crusade to avenge his species.

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The technical aspects of these films have been lauded so much at this stage that they often tend to get taken for granted, but again the effects in this movie are simply incredible and made all the more effective by the actors playing the apes.

Andy Serkis’ portrayal as the conflicted Caesar is as good as anything you will see on the big screen this year, with a lot of his supporting cast also adding quality to this feature, most notably Steve Zahn who adds comic relief as “Bad Ape”.

The cinematography is also breathtaking with swooping shots of the tremendous landscape giving this film a war/revenge western movie feel to it, whilst Mark Bomback’s screenplay too contains a much deeper and emotionally resonate narrative as the trilogy draws to its inevitable conclusion.

A potent thematic mixture of Apocalypse Now, and Heart of Darkness, along with stunning visuals and an exceptional narrative, results in a movie that not only is deserving of its place within this remarkable trilogy, but one that stands alone as an incredible film in it’s own right.

A film that will please fans of the franchise (and indeed all cinema goers) and is easily one of the best summer blockbusters you will see this year!

4/5

For more of John McCann’s movie reviews, check out his Facebook page here and website here

One Comment

  1. Pat Delany says:

    Great review. The reviewer is right to say that War for the Planet of The Apes stands on its own; I hadn’t seen the previous films but I really enjoyed this one anyway. I was sceptical in advance about watching a film about apes, and I expected the special effects would be overdone. I was wrong on both counts – the performances are excellent (especially Serkis) and the live shots and CGI are seamless. Now I’m looking forward to going back and watching the other two.

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