War has begun in the finale to the epic reboot of 20th Century FOX’s long-running Planet of the Apes franchise. Starring Andy Serkis once more as Apes leader and revolutionist Caesar, as well as Woody Harrelson as The Colonel, Caesar and his family of apes have been forced into a clash of two species that he does not wish to be apart of, but when push comes to shove Caesar is ultimately forced to make a final conflict for the fate of his apes, as well as the Planet.

War For the Planet of the Apes is a 2017 science fiction film and is the sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, it is produced by Chernin Entertainment, and distributed by 20th Century FOX. It is currently in theaters now.

Editor’s Note: This review contains near complete to complete spoilers for War For the Planet of the Apes.

Caesar leads his family and tribe to an unwanted war.

When Planet of the Apes’ was first announced to be receiving a reboot, fans of the long-running franchise were both worried and numb to the idea, especially after the lackluster quality of the previous attempted reboot in 2001. However, a mere ten years later,  Rise of the Planet of the Apes was released to universal acclaim. Performances from both motion capture genius Andy Serkis & co-lead James Franco brought new light to the long dormant franchise. Now Caesar’s story comes to an absolutely incredible and heartbreaking end in War For the Planet of the Apes.

Caesar with his most loyal men Maurice (left), Luca (right), and Rocket (background).

THE GOOD: While on the surface War For the Planet of the Apes seems like an action packed blockbuster film, at it’s core, it’s really a heartbreaking, soulful story, providing a far greater background into the lives of the Ape characters than even Dawn was able to provide. Caesar still feeling the effects from the previous film despite it having been two years since those events, begins to struggle with his morality, and just how much limitations & patients he has for mercy in regards to the continuous threats from the humans. Previous villain Koba returns in small doses, acting as a device to bring Caesar closer to the darkness within his heart in the form of hallucinations when he feels weak or during dreams in his sleep.

Caesar with son Cornelius and wife Cornelia.

Just as Caesar struggles with his darkness, mute human character Nova, is used as a brilliant plot device to bring Caesar back to his senses when he begins to feel truly bleak and desiring to feed into his darker instincts. The parallels to Caesar’s ape nature and human upbringing marks the film’s true conflict over the proposed Human/Ape war we were brought up to believe as such. One of the many lessons learned in ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’ is that war is sacrifice, and there’s a lot of it throughout the film’s run. From the death of Cornelius, Cornelia, and Luca, to the death of The Colonel’s own son (mentioned), everyone involved in the war has lost something and have their own ideals and reasons for fighting.

You’d think a film about war having some comedy would be…odd to say the least, however Bad Ape provides some perfectly timed, and necessary tension breaking hilarity.

The ending conflict everyone expected between Caesar and The Colonel doesn’t occur, in fact The Colonel is infected by the virus which inverts humans into nonspeaking primitives, and thus decides to commit suicide once Caesar comes to his senses, letting go of his hate and returning to protect his apes. There’s another group of human militants that are at war with The Colonel and his group, but they never really get fleshed out too much throughout the film, and have a major part in the final battle, which is unfortunate. Another English speaking ape named Bad Ape was used as comic relief to ease the tension, of a near entirely tense film, and he was fairly hysterical throughout his comedic dialogue. Red, a former follower of Koba, enjoyed being involved with the torture of Caesar and his fellow apes, but witnessing Caesar come to his senses and go all out to save them, causes him to have a change of heart, opting to sacrifice himself to save Caesar and his former ape comrades.

The Colonel’s men stand ready for battle.

THE BAD: The human militants at war with The Colonel aren’t really explained all too well, and just feel kind of there.

The Colonel as he appears in War For the Planet of the Apes.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Though not the action packed blockbuster some were (wrongfully) expecting it to be, War For the Planet of the Apes is a fantastic film about morality, sacrifice, brotherhood, and family. Caesar’s struggles with his personality provides most of the film’s conflict, while The Colonel acted as more of a fuel to the fire so to speak. The film brings the tale of Caesar: Ape Revolutionist, to a more than satisfying close, and it’ll be interesting to see how the franchise makes its next leap from here. Otaku Dome gives War For the Planet of the Apes a 95 out of 100.