War for the Planet of the Apes Review

It's funny to think that a film called "War for the Planet of the Apes" contains very little actual warfare, or at least explosions, fighting, or gunfire. The trailers showcase pretty much all the action, most of which occurs in the first half an hour or so. What does that mean happens in the rest of the movie? Not a whole lot; the apes mostly speak in sign language (as well as some of the humans, but more on that later), only Caesar (Andy Serkis), Bad Ape (Steve Zahn) and the Colonel (Woody Harrelson) have much of any verbal communications. It is a brilliant example of how to move a plot forward without pretentious speeches, leaving striking visuals and a wonderful score to carry the narrative to its end credits.

With the Simian Flu having wiped out most of the humans, the Colonel continues to war against the apes, believing that ending them will obliterate the virus. After discovering Caesar's refuge of monkeys, Colonel kills one of his sons and his wife. That makes him go bananas with anger (pun intended), on a blind, one-ape army seeking revenge against the shaved-headed military leader. Several of his right-hand men (or is it apes?) talk him into taking them along for protection, along the way discovering a mute little girl and the rogue chimpanzee Bad Ape, who has been living in an abandoned ski resort since the aforementioned viral outbreak.

But Caesar is caught, locked up, and stages an escape after him and other POW apes are forced to build a wall for the colonel (sounds like the 2016 Presidential election) to stop another army of humans. Why aren't the humans banded together? Well the virus has mutated, turning people into non-speaking primitives, and while the colonel thinks that stopping the sickness with a gun will work, the other army thinks science can end it. But with such a gun-happy man in charge, Caesar is kept alive to service the plot, not because it makes any sense. He admits that he killed his son and wife because he couldn't find Caesar, so then why keep him alive?

This virus is shown to spread with contact, affecting people within hours, but if the monkeys have the disease, then shouldn't the imprisoned apes be sanitized or something? Shouldn't they be handled with rubber gloves or vaccinated? The virus can live on inanimate objects, and the colonel knows that (he mentions at one point that he burns everything that the infected touch), but has a petting zoos worth of apes right outside his sleeping quarters? How does he know the virus isn't spread in the air? His base is on a snowy hill, the windows are obviously closed (otherwise his heating bill would be outrageous). If the monkeys are so smart, why didn't they all spit at the humans, thusly infecting them? Or do the apes not carry the sickness? This is the part of the movie when the plot becomes murky, an opaque explanation of how and why that you sort of just have to roll with the punches, accepting what it says and ignoring your own questions.

But the apes look fantastic, interacting with actors and set pieces in a way that makes its predecessors look like video game cut scenes. Despite how common motion-capture is, the series remains the best example of the practice, and this film is the most impressive. And although not John Williams, Michael Giacchino's score is masterful, and although I didn't walk out of the theater humming any of the tunes, I did walk out remembering liking the tunes.