Warfor thePlanetof theApes

From the hands of Matt Reeves and Andy Serkis, comes the epic conclusion to a beloved rebooted series, Planet of the Apes! Right from the start as the makers customize the theme music for 20th Century Fox's production company logo followed by a crystal clear sound design for a silent forest, you know the creative department concurs the film entirely, ensuring it is their own property out and out.

The writing here is bloody strong! Apes are now labelled threat post events of Dawn. The Colonel (Woody Harrelson) is on a straightforward mission to wipe out the primate population in order to save his own. With the brutal, loud and scary battle in the beginning, we as the spectators are genuinely afraid for the apes' lives. Will they survive? Where and when is this going to end? Even though they are able to attack the human soldiers back, the fear lingers throughout the feature. Destructions and death tolls are crazy high for real.

You then arrive to the most awaited moment of meeting Caesar (Andy Serkis). Our protagonist has come a long, long way. He has aged. His speech is fluent. And of course, he looks as majestic, threatening and commanding as ever! But, what you'll also see is he's tired. He could break and fall only about time. Caesar is driven competitively for the same goal as the Colonel. He is protecting his kind, except that he doesn't want to fight. It is very smart of him to use the released captives as message. He is on a run with his tribe to find a new home. A home where life can be restarted. We then see a grown up Blue Eyes (Max Lloyd-Jones) and Cornelius (Devyn Dalton). New characters like Winter (Aleks Paunovic) and Lake (Sara Canning) are fresh additions, while familiar ones such as Cornelia (Judy Greer) and Rocket (Terry Notary) are back in the story too. Many cute little ape babies are the foreseeable future. Life is at the brink of collapsing, but happiness, family and unity keep the hunted going.

The major turning point arrives when Colonel kills the only thing left for Caesar in this world - his wife and kid. The slow-motioned first face-off between the hero and villain is classic stuff! From this event onwards, what kicked off as a genocide tale shifts its gear into becoming a personal revenge plot! This one tragedy changes Caesar so much! The little humanity left sticking in him is gone now. He has nothing to lose anymore. He is going for the Colonel. That's it. Accompanied by his trusted accomplices, off he goes on the journey. Aside from being friends, Rocket saying he understands how it feels to lose a son is connectible to the past. Betrayal by Winter has definitely got to do with the abscond of the caught 'donkey', we know through no explanations. The blurry line between apes and humans are gone, as traitors are present in both races jumping on advantages.

Along this voyage of vendetta, a mini investigation surfaces. Deaf and dumb people are found constantly on the roads. Who are these individuals? What has it got to do with the overall proceedings? The way Maurice (Karin Konoval) interacts with Nova (Amiah Miller) is adorable. That lingering shot of initial communication is good! Her presence around Caesar helps highlight the humane side of him that's still prevalent. Choking Winter to death with approaching soldiers is one tensed up scene! With Luca (Michael Adamthwaite) injured and dead, conflicts notch up. Hopes are diminishing. To pursue the revenge or not is the question. Our protagonist, without realizing, is becoming Koba (Toby Kebbell). Caesar's entire tribe has been captured. He is caught too. They are forced to work without food or water. A strong statement on slavery rises. Caesar's whipped. He's put on gunpoint. He is tortured. He's left famished. He is dying. All odds are stacked against him on towering heights.

It is here we learn something deeper about the virus and our antagonist's motivations. The ALZ-113 spread besides being responsible in wiping out the human race, molds the future human generations into apes, much like what it did reversely for the latter. Therein enters the Colonel, a man with a greater goal, who did not hesitate to pull the trigger when the affected was his own son. This is exactly why he is on an outrage towards the apes! Since he is on a war against the humans who do not side by his opinion, he needs to build a wall - a solid reason why he still keeps Caesar's herd alive! This and the inclusion of Bad Ape does layer the story, but issues regarding these shall be discussed in a later paragraph.

Aren't friends the best plot points? Rocket submits himself to be put behind bars. This is his only way to communicate to Caesar about pre-hatched escape plan. Maurice and Bad Ape (Steve Zahn) on the other hand, dig a route through an underground tunnel to elude the tribe in facility. Water oozes in, throwing more conflict. Hereon after, we witness a gripping prison break, tailed by a dark massive cleanout war! This is one hell of a finale! When Caesar discovers that the doll brought in by Nova has contagiously affected the Colonel and changed the man into the species he very hates, no punishment or revenge is greater than to let him die in his own hands, which is exactly what the hero does. Caesar tries his level best to save his 'people'. The part where he falls failing to throw a grenade drops many jaws! Even 'donkey' is inspired by how hard his race has been fighting through survival that he decides to be himself for once. After a highly impactful battle, an avalanche appears as a symbol of purifying everything. A magnificent migration to a new home takes place. Maurice and Caesar share their moments before our protagonist collapses to a heartbreaking death. As much as we want Caesar to live, we know he won't. His role has come to a full circle. His purpose is accomplished. With a complete character arc, the trilogy ends.

The iffy aspect comes in with the introduction of Bad Ape. See, the character is interesting. He is the source of light moments when tensions are up high, be it in clips involving the binoculars, winter jacket or him peeking through the hole to signal the other apes. But, his backstory doesn't add much value to the plot. He mentions about more talking apes. But, we never got to that side of the story. Extra persuasion is also needed in convincing him to join the journey, as he heavily refuses initially.

This is what you'll notice immediately and by far, it's the strongest technical aspect of the motion picture. Yes, Michael Seresin's cinematography! From start to finish, the framing is perfect, perfect, perfect! The colors are strong, scope is huge and the entire presentation screams pristineness loudly! The one scene where green laser snipers walk around Caesar's hideout cave is an example enough to tell how clear picturizations are in this picture! Wide beach shots of the four riding horses at sunset and Caesar sliding down snowy mountain at nightfall are beauty! Settings and art pieces are richer, grander, grittier thus greater in every way! Even in Bad Apes' hideout, you could spot subtle rock structures shaped after a standard gorilla's face. Slow-mos to highlight heightened reactions follow film grammar. Michael Giacchino's score is as relevant as ever, and no surprise, you won't be able to find a single flaw with the computer graphics and motion capture work, barring maybe the snowstorm at the end which could have been slightly better to be unsurpassable.

The initial text exposition is unneeded, and this is something the film could have easily done without. Although narration by the Colonel is powerful to a degree, it's disappointing as a sore thumb verbal exposition when the entire picture is knitted on visual storytelling. The whole sequence where Nova enters the facility without being undetected is lousy for an exceptional film like this. How does Maurice know that the military would murder the little girl or her kind? He wasn't there when the Colonel's telling his past! Night guard entering a cage full of apes alone to shoot the one responsible for flinging dirt at him is really silly. Possibilities of him being ripped into pieces is high! He could have just shoot from the top.