Review of War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) by An0Nym0Usgamer — 13 Jul 2017

I am legitimately confused by the universal acclaim for this film. While there is certainly style to appreciate here, some impressive cinematography and special effects, War for the Planet of the Apes is not a "great" movie.

After seeing the first two movies in the series, and the critical reception leading up to the third's release, I was expecting great things. But instead, I found myself incredibly bored and disappointed by a 2.

5 hour runtime with frequent filler, constant failed attempts at emotional investment, and a painfully shallow philosophical component. I really hate saying stuff like this at the risk of coming across as pretentious, but this movie is trying to be an accessible Apocalypse Now or 2001: A Space Odyssey, and instead it is bland, predictable and does not deserve the praise it has been getting.

I will note that it isn't an outright bad movie, we have enough of those nowadays for me to know the difference. But it definitely isn't special.