War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) Review

The much anticipated War for the Planet of the Apes, like Dawn, is directed by Matt Reaves, and stars Woody Harrelson, as well as Andy Serkis once again reprising his role as Caesar. I think the previous two films in this gritty reboot of the ‘Planet of the Apes’ franchise are both brilliant, standing individually but also linking together very well.  Now, after the events of Rise and Dawn, a new threat emerges in the form of a brutal Colonel (Woody Harrelson), who leads an army of humans into a conflict with the apes, and the outcome of this epic battle will determine the fate of both species and the planet.

Firstly, this film is technologically and technically incredible . The apes look more amazing than ever before, and the cinematography and editing in general compliments the apes so perfectly as it gives them such breath-taking backdrops and environments to interact with. Pretty much every frame in this film is picturesque in some way. From the claustrophobia of the muddy caves to the vastness of the snowy mountains, War is a clinic in how to create beautiful shots and present incredible visual imagery. And of course, the motion capture work must be praised. As expected, all actors involved in this did a brilliant job, including Steve Zahn as the comedic relief Bad Ape, but Andy Serkis’ Caesar was unsurprisingly the stand out, taking the character to much darker, conflicting places than we’ve ever seen before. We can see the pain and suffering on his face in every movement and expression, and it is a truly magnificent performance, that could certainly warrant an Oscar nomination in my opinion (something which I recently talked more in depth about here- Should Andy Serkis get an Oscar nomination for his motion capture performances?).

Furthermore, a word has to be said for Michael Giachinno’s haunting score, that was used at exactly the right moments, to sometimes say more words than any amount of dialogue ever could have, and it was more pivotal than you may expect, as a lot of scenes in the film are silent, and involve the apes just signing to one another, and Giachinno’s score beautifully compliments these moments and increases the tension.

I certainly did like the approach the film took, by being much more of a character study rather than an action bonanza. However, while doing so very successfully in parts, on the whole I just feel that it did not delve deep enough into the psyche of Caesar and the pain and confliction he was feeling. Also, although some of the best scenes of the film were the more subdued, dramatic scenes, such as the Colonel and Caesar facing off, I did feel that quite a few scenes slowed the momentum down quite a bit. When I say this, I don’t mean it was because there was a lack of action, as the best scenes were the tense, dramatic, character based ones, but certain scenes felt like they were prolonged for no reason at all, and did not advance the characters or the story in any way. Unfortunately, while there is of course some epic and moving moments, I felt that the story as a whole was surprisingly thin and was stretched out a lot, and that a scenario that a huge chunk of the story is based around, could have been told much more rapidly.

Also, since the film was based so much around Caesar’s quest for revenge, I would have liked an actor of Woody Harrelson’s calibre to have been utilised more. He and Caesar have some amazing scenes where they face off, but since Caesar’s journey of vengeance is solely about actions Woody Harrelson’s character previously took, it would have made more sense I think to give more layers to his character and give him a bit more to do/say, as they were some of the best parts.

Overall, while personally being somewhat disappointed by War for the Planet of the Apes, with it having a much thinner story than I was hoping for, leading to repetition in some plot points, it is still certainly a very solid entry into the franchise. It connects well with the previous films, with some truly amazing moments, beautiful aesthetics, and a sensational central performance from Andy Serkis.

7/10

Should Andy Serkis get an Oscar nomination for his motion capture performances?

With Andy Serkis reprising his role as Caesar in the hugely anticipated War for the Planet of the Apes, in theatres this weekend, talk has once again surfaced suggesting that Serkis should be nominated for an Oscar for his performance. Of course, I will have to wait till I see War for the Planet of the Apes to form an opinion on that particular performance, but his numerous brilliant motion capture performances of the past can certainly be analysed. Although there have been other actors who have produced other really good motion capture performances, such as Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk and Zoe Saldana in Avatar (2009), Serkis is seen as the godfather of this particular kind of acting, being one of the leading reasons it has become as advanced as it has today. Talk for Serkis to be nominated first began with his role as Gollum in the ‘Lord of the Rings’ films, then to a slightly lesser degree for his role as King Kong. It happened again when he first played Caesar in 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and then the loudest noises for Serkis’ exceptional and pioneering work for motion capture to be recognised came in 2014’s summer sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Although Koba was also brilliant in this film, Caesar was certainly the standout. Serkis has said that his work deserves to be judged on a level playing field to all other actors, as motion capture work has reached such a level of quality and sophistication. The technology is truly amazing and the general public have generally been wowed by just how much he brings these characters to life, but some have had trouble accepting it as acting, despite the great visuals.

Admittedly, it is very difficult to know just how much credit is owed to the animators, and which expressions or movements come purely from the actor, and which are just simply added in post-production. However, despite this, what Serkis does has been well documented and I definitely think that his extensive movements, expressions, voices etc are certainly facets of acting, and that he certainly does enough to be allowed to be considered for an Oscar, if the performance is good enough. Also, it can be argued that every Oscar nominated/ Oscar winning performance is down to a team of people, not just the individual. Some of this brilliant performance is surely somewhat down to the writing, the direction etc, and not just the singular actors performance. Because of these reasons, I think that motion capture performances should definitely be considered for Oscars, despite not being traditional acting performances. However, I do of course think that were there to be a motion capture performance nominated for an Oscar, it would have to genuinely be one of the top few performances from that year, and cannot just be awarded because motion capture acting has not been nominated before.

With the ‘Planet of the Apes’ franchise set to reach greater dramatic heights than ever with the new film, there is a good chance that Serkis’ third performance as Caesar could be his best yet, but this of course remains to be seen. But if his performance is as great as we are hoping it will be, I do think that Serkis should be able to be finally nominated for an Oscar for his performance, if it truly is one of the best of the year, and motion capture performances should be judged on a level playing field, it is just a matter of how good the performance and how great the character created is.