War for the Planet of the Apes

Four stars out of love for Caesar and out of respect for Matt Reeves' courage to make a film that is largely based on silence, gestures and slowness. Unfortunately, the attempt not to rush the culmination of the trilogy leads to the film completely sleeping through it. A strong opponent such as Koby is missing (and therefore the film must also evoke him at certain points, at least as a phantasm), and Woody Harrelson is very doll-like. It’s a bit of an easy template, a light version of Colonel Kurtz deprived of real demons. The introductory part is also captivating thanks to the inventive minimalism of Michael Giacchino and Seresin's detailed camera with variable depth of field. Unfortunately, the prison break in the second half drags on - it lacks energy and the supporting dilemma. The unraveling itself is imaginative and in the key of the entire trilogy, but the promised ape-apocalypse is not nearly as fatal and overwhelming as the trilogy imaginatively transmitting humanity to the monkeys deserves. The triumph is the incredibly detailed and precise animation and the acting of everyone involved. A slight disappointment. [70%] (12/07/2017)

The best trilogy since The Dark Knight? Undoubtedly! The final installment of the trilogy is much more of a depressing drama than an action spectacle, which is a bit of a bummer (I think the conclusion of a trilogy would deserve a pumped-up action inferno), but the upside is that even without "war" the apes work flawlessly. The CGI is a few levels above anything else we've seen so far, the emotions work better here than in any emotional blackmail film, and the pace hurtles forward faster than a draft horse. Another big upside is the villain, played by Woody Harrelson, who fits the bill perfectly. By the end the whole theater was crying, the woman behind me was considering running away as the emotional fit she was experiencing was too much for her. An emotional experience. 90% (24/07/2017)

They weren't kidding overseas, the third Planet of the Apes is another great spectacle. Matt Reeves continues the tone set by the previous installments and delivers a film that, while nearly two and a half hours long, isn't afraid to slow down and make time for scenes where the characters just sit around, talk, and you find out little details about them that make you worry about them instead of just waiting for the final set-piece. While last time the apes and humans were given similar space, this time it's almost all about Caesar, but Woody Harrelson has enough space to shine next to the digital (and of course amazing-looking) animal characters. I can imagine that the finale, with its slightly unexpected concept, won't quite suit some people, but paradoxically it makes all the ideas that have been hinted at several times throughout the film come through. Overall, War for the Planet of the Apes is exactly what we expected and hoped for. Plus, it confidently references the Charlton Heston version more than once, giving answers to questions one might not have thought to ask. A good and clever blockbuster. There's bloody little of that in cinemas.. (16/08/2017)

I'm struck by how many people complain that there is “not enough war" in War for the Planet of the Apes. I, on the other hand, am glad there isn’t. The war scenes that are there are enough for me - they are so suggestive and gritty that I most definitely didn't need more. I am so pleased that the unimaginably cutting-edge effects serve mainly to create 100% believable characters and we can follow their story - especially Caesar's. A story that shows us one of the most heroic film characters of all time (I mean that, deadly serious), deals with humanity and inhumanity, skillfully develops the ideas of the 2011 film (who would have expected it back then?) and gets closer and closer to the 1968 film. I don't have a single reservation about the directing and its atmospheric scenes, I didn't really expect so much emotion from start to finish, in terms of acting it’s top notch (the Colonel and Nova are the only interesting humans, and that is the way it should be) and most importantly, it's still interesting and engaging and epic, though at the same time intimate. And that Michael Giacchino music! (15/07/2017)

Don’t expect any real “war” – that takes about four minutes. The film is a slow, sensitively narrated “wandering” drama focusing on diverse characters and their emotional interactions, of course in perfectly designed natural settings. As in the last The Jungle Book, the motion capture performances of monkeys’ faces completely overshadow the live actors (including Woody Harrelson). The details of rendering their skin/fur are again a bit more technologically advanced than in previous Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Incredible. (12/07/2017)