By Bernie ‘The Movie Guy’ Ment
Contributing Writer
Human kind and ape kind were destined to face off once and for all in an all-out battle for Earth in the new “Planet of the Apes” saga — and this is the chapter where it all comes to a head. Caesar throws down against a malevolent colonel and the result will end up deciding the future of the planet.
That’s the premise for the latest installment in this franchise of movies. The new generation of simians, sick and tired of hiding in exile, makes a final push for dominance on an increasingly hostile world. Meanwhile, the Simian Flu created by humans has continued to erode the homosapiens’ dominance on Earth by deteriorating vocal chords, thus making speech impossible.
The colonel, who watched his own son lose the capability to communicate, ended up taking the child’s life rather than allow him to live in a world where simians are the new world order.
In a raid on an ape refuge, the colonel (who is never formally given a name, by the way, thereby dehumanizing him all the more) ends up killing Caesar’s family, thus setting off a spark of rage in the chimpanzee which feeds his determination to exterminate humankind.
Amazingly, the movie feeds off the human inhumanity and treats the apes with extraordinary sympathy throughout. Movie audiences will root for the simian civilization while developing contempt for many of the human characters, the epitome of cinematic irony.
The battle will come to a head in this chapter and developments will create closure for several storylines in the franchise, while leaving others open for development in future installments should Fox choose to make more Ape movies in the coming years.
Woody Harrelson is perfectly cast as the colonel, giving the role the right level of cunning and malevolence needed to convincingly face off with his simian opposition. Harrelson’s maniacal portrayal evokes similarities to Colonel Kurtz in “Apocalypse Now,” another character oddly detached from civilized humanity who lives within his own delusions.
Andy Serkis, despite being hidden in the role of Caesar behind a veneer of CGI-created ape fur and flesh, still manages to resonate human characteristics that make him a more sympathetic character than the humans trying to wipe him and his tribe off the face of the Earth.
The storyline even seems to add biblical connotations to Caesar’s character, including crucifixions and an ending that will evoke recollections of Moses arriving at the promised land with his people after their deliverance from Egypt.
The pen where the ape civilization is held in captivity even evokes eerie similarity to the Nazi camps of World War II, where captives were starved while forced to do hard labor in horrible weather conditions.
When all is said and done, the fate of humankind is sealed in this chapter and the story can move on to life as usual for the new inhabitants of Earth. The stage is set for the events in the now-classic “Planet of the Apes” movies of the 1960s, should the studio choose to remake them at this point. Even Tim Burton’s failed attempt to jump start the remakes in 2001 can pretty much be swept under the table and the stories can start from scratch.
One thing modern technology has done is improved the realism on the big screen for stories like this. Motion capture upgrades allow the actors like Serkis to play out the roles unfettered by heavy makeup like the actors of the 1960s had to wear.
One can even read the ape motivations through facial expressions and the visual effects become a part of the story even more as we see the interactions of the apes in their efforts to defeat the humans whose sole goal is their extermination.
It’s my sincere hope that writers come up with more creative ideas to return us to this wonderful global storyline in the making. I give “War for the Planet of the Apes” 4.5 out of 5 stars.
