Review of War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) by Nathan W — 23 Jul 2017

Matt Reeves ends the Apes trilogy in spectacular jaw dropping fashion. The inevitable time has come when the War for survival (not domination which many seem to think this film is about) has led to this final stand of blood thirst and conflict that will only end in fire and bloodshed from either side.

The film also works perfectly with its multiple tones throughout and plays perfectly with an extraordinary amount of genres from a Western to Drama, with a dark and brutal use of dark imagery, incredibly reminiscent of the Holocaust.

The inevitable climax is truely phenomenal, once again Reeve's blends and spearheads a character driven film in an action/Sci-Fi epic and the result is a glorious colossal meteor of suspenseful turmoil for its audience; they will scream, they will cry and they will be simply left stunned.

Performances are terrific. Serkis is as good as ever and the sheer emotional range the actor brings to a CGI character is mesmerising. Supporting cast is also terrific with Harrelson channeling his inner Colonel Kurtz and stealing the show, yet I wanted so much more, but perhaps I'm greedy.

I do have one slight issue and that's the film's climax, it does something that felt both cheap and disappointing regarding a certain character.