War for the Planet of the Apes is a 2017 American science fiction film directed by Matt Reeves and written by Mark Bomback and Reeves. It is a sequel to the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and the third installment in the Planet of the Apes reboot series. It stars Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Steve Zahn, Amiah Miller, Karin Konoval, Judy Greer and Terry Notary.
The film was released in the United States on July 14, 2017 by 20th Century Fox.
Plot[]
Two years following the Battle of San Francisco, a U.S. Army battalion known as "Alpha-Omega" (AΩ) aided by apes derogatorily called "donkeys", searches for Caesar's ape colony. A platoon of Alpha Omegas assault an ape outpost, but the apes repel the attack and kill all but four humans and a donkey gorilla named Red. Caesar releases the captured humans as a peacekeeping gesture, but Red escapes after attacking Winter. Caesar's young son Blue Eyes and Rocket return from a scouting expedition to report they have found an oasis that could serve as a safer home. That night, the Colonel of AΩ leads a team to infiltrate the colony and kills Cornelia and Blue Eyes, mistaking the latter for Caesar. Cornelius, Caesar's younger son, manages to survive the attack by hiding while the Colonel escapes.
Caesar, followed by Rocket, Maurice, and Luca, decide to serve as decoys while the tribe journeys to the oasis. In an abandoned village, Caesar kills a human in self-defense and finds his mute daughter, whom Maurice takes guardianship of, giving her a rag doll. They encounter Winter, now working for AΩ after giving away their hideout—he had faked the attack by Red and let him escape—and confront him. He reveals that the Colonel's forces are heading north to meet up with the rest of the military. Caesar accidentally kills Winter in retribution for his wife and son, and to prevent him from alerting the soldiers. As they follow the Colonel, Caesar's group discovers several dead soldiers who have been executed by their own troops; a fatally wounded survivor is revealed to be mute, just like the girl. Caesar's group chases someone who has stolen one of their horses and discovers the thief is another intelligent ape, Bad Ape, who matured in isolation. He guides them to a former weapons depot-turned quarantine facility in the mountains that serves as the base for the militia. A human patrol kills Luca, and an enraged Caesar tells Maurice, Rocket, Bad Ape, and the mute girl to turn back. Caesar attempts to infiltrate the base and discovers his tribe has been captured and forced into labor there, before he is caught by Red. Caesar deduces that the militia are using the apes to barricade the facility in order to fend off the incoming military forces, which intend to attack rather than reinforce the militia.
The Colonel reveals that the Simian Flu virus has mutated, causing infected humans to mentally devolve into primitive animals, depriving them of their intelligence. After killing his infected son, he ordered his own troops to kill any carriers before they could infect others. This led to a conflict with his superiors, who believed the disease could still be cured; as Caesar suspected, the military is coming to forcibly relieve the Colonel of his command. The Colonel has ordered Caesar to be tortured, starving him, and leaving him exposed to the cold. The mute girl, named Nova by Maurice, sneaks into the facility to feed Caesar. Rocket allows himself to be captured to prevent Nova from being seen so he and Caesar can formulate a plan to escape. The Colonel later confiscates the doll Nova left for Caesar, but the other apes escape via an underground tunnel.
The military arrives and attacks the facility, and the apes are caught in the crossfire. During the chaos, Caesar sneaks into the Colonel's quarters to kill him, only to find that he has been infected by the virus after handling Nova's doll. Caesar refuses to kill the Colonel, instead allowing him to kill himself. Caesar then attempts to destroy a fuel tank but is critically wounded by Preacher, one of the soldiers he released earlier. At the sight of the apes being killed, Red has a change of heart and kills Preacher before being executed. Caesar blows the fuel tank, causing an avalanche that buries both armies, and flees up the trees with the rest of the apes and Nova.
The apes and Nova resume their journey to the oasis. As they arrive, Maurice discovers Caesar's wound and promises that Cornelius will know who his father was and what he did for the apes. With his colony safe in their new home, Caesar peacefully succumbs to his wounds and passes away.
Cast[]
Apes[]
- Andy Serkis as Caesar
- Steve Zahn as "Bad Ape"
- Terry Notary as Rocket
- Michael Adamthwaite as Luca
- Aleks Paunovic as Winter
Max Lloyd-Jones as Blue Eyes
- Devyn Dalton as Cornelius
- Ty Olsson as Red
Humans[]
- Woody Harrelson as The Colonel
- Amiah Miller as Nova
- Gabriel Chavarria as Preacher
- Chad Rook as Boyle
Videos[]
Reviews[]
War for the Planet of the Apes - Movie Review
Caillou Pettis reviews War for the Planet of the Apes.
Reception[]
Critical response[]
War for the Planet of the Apes received praise for its visual effects, cinematography and morally complex storyline. On review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 93% based on 70 reviews, with a rating average of 8.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "War for the Planet of the Apes combines breathtaking special effects and a powerful, poignant narrative to conclude this rebooted trilogy on a powerful – and truly blockbuster – note." On review aggregator Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating to reviews, the film has a score of 78 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews"