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War for the Planet of the Apes |OT| And for the last Twinkie too. [SPOILERS]

MMarston

Was getting caught part of your plan?
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Wuddup GAF. This movie is coming out next Friday (or Wednesday if your theater will be doing a marathon of the new trilogy) and super early screenings have already happened last month.

So yes, there will inevitably be actual spoilers in this thread. (Hell, I'm gonna be covering my eyes carefully too). For the sake of those who just want to just gush about the film for now though, maybe you lucky people can hold off on the spoilers until Page 2, but no one will be stopping you regardless.

Soundtrack is also now available for pre-order on Amazon, but no preview snippets yet, unfortunately.

Now GO APE!

Other links:
RottenTomatoes
War IMDb page
Official Website
Posters via JoBlo
 

MMarston

Was getting caught part of your plan?
Well, turns out the tracklist for the OST is already out, so...

1. Apes' Past is Prologue
2. Assault of the Earth
3. Exodus Wounds
4. The Posse Polonaise
5. The Bad Ape Bagatelle
6. Don't Luca Now
7. Koba Dependent
8. The Ecstasy of the Bold
9. Apes Together Strong
10. A Tide in the Affairs of Apes
11. Planet of the Escapes
12. The Hating Game
13. A Man Named Suicide
14. More Red Than Alive
15. Migration
16. Paradise Found
17. End Credits

I'm kinda liking what I'm reading here.
 
Incredible end to the trilogy.

I kinda figured Caesar would die with how his arc has been going since Rises, but it was such a perfect and bittersweet send off. Surviving to see the pack find their new home, but only being survived by Cornelius and only having Maurice by his side. Where was Rocket.

Not ashamed to admit I had tears in my eyes as he slowly slumped over and took his last breath, Maurice crying nearly pushed me over the edge into sobbing...

A few other memorable moments.

The OG crew - it was great seeing Rocket and Maurice refusing to leave Caesar's side. .

Caesar's internal conflict - made sense he'd have some trauma left from dealing with Koba and it manifests in some really interesting ways. Seeing Koba after he kills Winter made a lot of sense, the idea of apes not killing apes and the lengths Caeser was going to to get revenge. I liked the contrast here, the Colonel talking about abandoning humanity to save the human race, Caesar abandoning his rule to never kill an ape to get revenge.

Bad Ape - it was nice to finally have a character that can talk as well as Caesar and he added so much needed levity to scenes. The movie is relentless in how depressing it is and would have been a much tougher if they didn't have Bad Ape.

Woody Harrelson's character - he was okay, but I wasn't sure about the character. They tried their best to flesh him out, but he still came across as one dimensional and we didn't get a good idea of why the solders were so loyal and willing to give their lives for him.

The virus mutating - an interesting twist and it made sense with how viruses are always mutating, but it also felt a little rushed. We don't have a good sense of timeline in these movies, so while it's been years since Rises and the virus spreading, it doesn't really feel like it, if that makes sense.
 
One last thing, this movie does a fantastic job laying the groundwork for why the apes treat humans the way they do in PoTA.

The pack being treated like slaves and murdered because they couldn't continue working. Barely fed or given water, pretty much treated like cattle. Cornelius seeing his mum and bro murdered in front of him and then witnessing his dad being whipped, beaten, tortured and eventually murdered by humans.

Even with Maurice taking Nova under his wing and with how much she helped, she was the exception here and likely has been for quite some time/ Every other human they encounter is only interested in killing them or enslaving them.
 

Osahi

Member
I liked it a lot. Best one of the 3 by far. It's bleak, character driven and beautifully shot.

I only felt the second half slumped somewhat. You go from a search/chase to a standstill prison drama. The colonel could've been fleshed out more too, but I feel this is a side effect from only showing him from the pov of the apes
 

strafer

member
I rewatched Dawn last night and Serkis performance is just out of this world, the emotion he shows, that scene with Cornelia was just heartbreaking.
 
I liked it a lot. Best one of the 3 by far. It's bleak, character driven and beautifully shot.

I only felt the second half slumped somewhat. You go from a search/chase to a standstill prison drama. The colonel could've been fleshed out more too, but I feel this is a side effect from only showing him from the pov of the apes

The prison break scene was great though.
 

Firemind

Member
What an extraordinary dumb movie. The level of suspension of disbelief it tasked you was honestly baffling. First you have the military who were ordered to find and kill Caesar which got immediately dropped the moment he got captured. Then they turned the whole thing into a concentration camp where the apes had to build a pitiful wall of scraps and debris. And then, get this, the colonel reveals they're preparing against an attack by another army for treason and they have a giant tank of flammable gas in the middle of their camp. Even better, the whole battle was pointless to begin with because everything sans apes got buried by an avalanche presumably triggered by the giant explosive tank. The fact that a massive army of infantry came charging like idiots made the whole thing even more hilarious.

My girlfriend who I was with made a comment about how much of a mindfuck it would be if the soldier fully dressed in winter clothing, upon seeing Caesar, reveals he's an ape. They're all apes all along. And they're trying to kill the last humans on Earth. Would have been a nice callback to the original. Instead, we got a boring end to a trilogy. Dawn was better.
 
Incredible end to the trilogy.

I kinda figured Caesar would die with how his arc has been going since Rises, but it was such a perfect and bittersweet send off. Surviving to see the pack find their new home, but only being survived by Cornelius and only having Maurice by his side. Where was Rocket.

Not ashamed to admit I had tears in my eyes as he slowly slumped over and took his last breath, Maurice crying nearly pushed me over the edge into sobbing...

A few other memorable moments.

The OG crew - it was great seeing Rocket and Maurice refusing to leave Caesar's side. .

Caesar's internal conflict - made sense he'd have some trauma left from dealing with Koba and it manifests in some really interesting ways. Seeing Koba after he kills Winter made a lot of sense, the idea of apes not killing apes and the lengths Caeser was going to to get revenge. I liked the contrast here, the Colonel talking about abandoning humanity to save the human race, Caesar abandoning his rule to never kill an ape to get revenge.

Bad Ape - it was nice to finally have a character that can talk as well as Caesar and he added so much needed levity to scenes. The movie is relentless in how depressing it is and would have been a much tougher if they didn't have Bad Ape.

Woody Harrelson's character - he was okay, but I wasn't sure about the character. They tried their best to flesh him out, but he still came across as one dimensional and we didn't get a good idea of why the solders were so loyal and willing to give their lives for him.

The virus mutating - an interesting twist and it made sense with how viruses are always mutating, but it also felt a little rushed. We don't have a good sense of timeline in these movies, so while it's been years since Rises and the virus spreading, it doesn't really feel like it, if that makes sense.

So in your opinion, how well has this trilogy as a whole utilized the classic hero's journey?

Who functions as the companion archetypes to Caesar's story, both human and ape?

And can you break down all the villain archetypes from the 3 films and what they represent? For Rise, There were 4 themetic villains, Steven Jacobs, John and Dodge Landon, and Rocket. Dawn had Koba and Dreyfus. And War has Colonel McCullough.

Also, IYO, what are the individual themes of the 3 films, and what do you feel is the one unifying theme that ties all three of these films as one?
 
It wasn't any kind of official 'military' though, it was more like an extremist faction led by a crazy leader. That much was made clear by the conversation the Colonel and Caesar have, the need to build the wall and well the entire last act where it's mostly human vs human.
 
Loved this movie. Had a bit of an annoying audience but it didn't harm the movie.

Just, fantastic. Don't have the time to properly right it out but I really didn't expect to enjoy Bad Ape as much as I did especially as, whilst being funny, he was clearly quite tortured inside.
 
Loved this movie. Had a bit of an annoying audience but it didn't harm the movie.

Just, fantastic. Don't have the time to properly right it out but I really didn't expect to enjoy Bad Ape as much as I did especially as, whilst being funny, he was clearly quite tortured inside.

The scene where he talks his lost son and him possibly still being alive in the camp damn near broke my heart.

I felt he knew deep down his son was dead, but he just couldn't bring himself to accept it.
 

Osahi

Member
Loved this movie. Had a bit of an annoying audience but it didn't harm the movie.

Just, fantastic. Don't have the time to properly right it out but I really didn't expect to enjoy Bad Ape as much as I did especially as, whilst being funny, he was clearly quite tortured inside.

You want to talk about an anoying audience? How about a family bringing their 4 year old with them, and keeping her quiet with a smartphone app ... with the sound on. Usually, you couldn't hear it, but during silent scènes (you know, the emotional ones) you could hear candies pop and music jingle. The kid sometimes ran around too, which was pretty distracting.

God I hate summer holidays. During school time I go see movies at idday screenings and I have the place alsmost for myself. But during holidays it's always noisy teens, or shit parents with kids...

:p

Bought the soundtrack of iTunes btw. Really digging it. Giacchino is really growing as a composer. His blockbuster soundtracks are getting better all the time. His Pixar-stuff was allready amazing.
 
I like that the subtle change in movie title is on screen. You had Rise of, Dawn of, and now the War for. The onscreen war wasn't the apes versus Woody it was man versus man fighting a planet that wasn't theirs. Damn good stuff.
I went to the marathon yesterday and it was great to see the progression all the way through. I think they did an amazing job subtly adding on all the characteristics that you'd see in the og series like the mutation of the virus.
I'll never get tired of that first Caesar "no" and how he runs around displaying it as a weapon.
Overall just a very full, rich experience and an incredible trilogy that should have never been good when they announced the first on paper.
 

MMarston

Was getting caught part of your plan?
Welp, movie's finally coming out tonight but given that my cinemas here are still trying pull that 3D only premium theatre crap, I'm gonna wait until tomorrow noon for the 2D showings. Need to find a way to get myself to rewatch the previous two though (I have surprisingly never bought them on Blu-ray despite being so fond of them).


I gotta admit, "Yes they finally made a monkey out of me" was almost the thread title.
 
So in your opinion, how well has this trilogy as a whole utilized the classic hero's journey?

Who functions as the companion archetypes to Caesar's story, both human and ape?

And can you break down all the villain archetypes from the 3 films and what they represent? For Rise, There were 4 themetic villains, Steven Jacobs, John and Dodge Landon, and Rocket. Dawn had Koba and Dreyfus. And War has Colonel McCullough.

Also, IYO, what are the individual themes of the 3 films, and what do you feel is the one unifying theme that ties all three of these films as one?

Those are some deep questions my dude.

I think it'll be divisive. We'll see a lot of people claiming it's not as good as Dawn and I can see where they'll be coming from, it's a much slower burn and there aren't many action sequences, it's more about the final days of humanity playing in the background while Caesar and co strive to forge their own path and simply want to be left alone.
 

Tizoc

Member
Just got back from watching it. It was great but hooo boy was it long.
Lots of great scenes I must say
I like how it ended up being a drama movie, as I was going in expecting action haha
 
Just got back from watching it. It was great but hooo boy was it long.
Lots of great scenes I must say
I like how it ended up being a drama movie, as I was going in expecting action haha
That's what I thought not saying it's a bad move just saying they did a complete 180 after the action in the beginning
 

Lyonaz

Member
Great movie, I must say it's one of the best trilogies out there, hell might be my personal favourite trilogy.
 

mrkgoo

Member
Movie is not as good as second.

The second had a lot of complex parts going on and kept you guessing as to what will happen.

Third one is still good but it has a really straight forward plot, and uses some common techniques to pull at the heart strings. Works though.


It was way less large scale than I was expecting.
 
Movie is not as good as second.

The second had a lot of complex parts going on and kept you guessing as to what will happen.

Third one is still good but it has a really straight forward plot, and uses some common techniques to pull at the heart strings. Works though.


It was way less large scale than I was expecting.

It did feel like a very personal story after the opening skirmish in the woods. I was expecting it to open up to winder conflicts happening throughout the woods, but then it suddenly went personal drama and it didn't feel as jarring as I thought it would.
 
Just saw this...

Oh man. What a disappointment. I didn't see myself being as disappointed with it as I am.

Woody Harrelsons performance was... bad. He did not carry the scenes that he needed too.
 
Yeah he did.

I mean, in my opinion (if that qualifier was needed), he absolutely did not.

Coming off Koba, Harrelsons character was weak. And his terrible performance was only made more apparent vs. the apes who he was on screen with.

For me, the movie had huge pacing issues in the second half, primarily because Woody did not have the screen presence to warrant as much screen time as he got. He dragged it down. And quite a bit.
 

Totakeke

Member
Just came back from the movie, really didn't feel much for it. It was very dreary and paced deliberately. The CGI is incredible and some scenes are really beautiful, but otherwise I feel like it was hard to sit through unless you were really invested in the characters.
 

dcelw540

Junior Member
It was okay,

-I felt the movie just didn't have that much to say compared to the amazing first two films. This one has a promising start but once they hit the camp it slows to a crisp. It just drags and drags.

-Woody Harrelson was okay more screen time could of been used. Plus his motivation to wanting to kill ceasar at the start to capturing him to help build for his act is silly.

-An actual war between the apes and humans I felt would have had a bigger impact instead of humans vs humans with apes in the middle.

-Nova was a bit of a wasted character, not enough depth for her considering all the other main human characters has decent arcs.

-The guards suck at patrolling and the cliche evil henchman is the only one to notice the apes are gone. Also weren't the soldiers going to use the apes to fight the incoming military? So why didn't anyone notice that first.

-Ceasar and his gang of apes were all great expect bad ape. He had a few funny moments but got tiresome after awhile. No, no, no, no

-Underwhelming finale with the armies

-The ending moment was great, amazing way to finish it.

Overall 6/10
 

Sanjuro

Member
I mean, in my opinion (if that qualifier was needed), he absolutely did not.

Coming off Koba, Harrelsons character was weak. And his terrible performance was only made more apparent vs. the apes who he was on screen with.

For me, the movie had huge pacing issues in the second half, primarily because Woody did not have the screen presence to warrant as much screen time as he got. He dragged it down. And quite a bit.

He didn't mail it in like in the Hunger Games, so it was a pleasant surprise. He wasn't trying to match up to Koba.

My main gripe is he was basically the only human character.
 

Bit-Bit

Member
Just got out and I loved it. A great end to Cesar's journey. His son and heir being Cornelius is such a great nod to the originals.

For those who don't know, Cornelius is Cesar's dad in the original series.
 

Gnilres

Member
Best movie I've seen this year so far. Exceeded my already high expectations.

I honestly cannot think of any flaws.
 

Einchy

semen stains the mountaintops
What an extraordinary dumb movie.

My girlfriend who I was with made a comment about how much of a mindfuck it would be if the soldier fully dressed in winter clothing, upon seeing Caesar, reveals he's an ape. They're all apes all along. And they're trying to kill the last humans on Earth. Would have been a nice callback to the original. Instead, we got a boring end to a trilogy. Dawn was better.

lol?
 

B33

Banned
What an extraordinary dumb movie. The level of suspension of disbelief it tasked you was honestly baffling. First you have the military who were ordered to find and kill Caesar which got immediately dropped the moment he got captured. Then they turned the whole thing into a concentration camp where the apes had to build a pitiful wall of scraps and debris. And then, get this, the colonel reveals they're preparing against an attack by another army for treason and they have a giant tank of flammable gas in the middle of their camp. Even better, the whole battle was pointless to begin with because everything sans apes got buried by an avalanche presumably triggered by the giant explosive tank. The fact that a massive army of infantry came charging like idiots made the whole thing even more hilarious.

My girlfriend who I was with made a comment about how much of a mindfuck it would be if the soldier fully dressed in winter clothing, upon seeing Caesar, reveals he's an ape. They're all apes all along. And they're trying to kill the last humans on Earth. Would have been a nice callback to the original. Instead, we got a boring end to a trilogy. Dawn was better.

This is a bad review.

That ending would have been laughably bad.
 
Just got back and... holy shit...I'm just gobsmacked right now. Even though I was trepidatious at first, in the end I'm so glad they went smaller with this film. They really focused on Ceasar and his tight little crew and I fucking love that. I loved the personal journey and thought it was paced perfectly. I wasn't bored once and this is coming from an action junkie. I just really enjoyed and respected the story they told here and that trumps any little niggles I can think of, and I can't think of any right now. This is also the first time I've absolutely fallen in love with a cg character. R.I.P. Ceasar Franco.

I love that all of the themes of the movie are extentions of Dawn's and really pushes Ceasar to the absolute edge in regards to the question of if he would finally turn to the dark side in the end or not. Woody basically plays the same character as Oldman's from Dawn but seen to it's natural conclusion. The question of how far Ceasar will go and to what true purpose is fascinating to me and I thought Woody sold that monologue in the tower absolutely perfectly. The ending was so poetic too, how in the very end, after everything they'd been through, it was up to nature who ended up surviving to the bitter end. And Ceasar finally found peace.

The crying, laughing, gasping, cheering, laughing, and crying again was something I haven't experienced in a long time. When my entire theater applauded at the end I just knew we had watched something seriously special. You could've heard a fucking pin drop in my auditorium tonight. This feels like a Dark Knight or Logan in terms of genre entertainment that reaches that next level due to its mix of dramatic stakes and technical achievement. If you're a movie fan in the slightest you owe yourself this experience in a theater. It's simply one of the best films I've ever seen and now officially am fucking stoked for Reeves' Batman.
 
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