War For the Planet of the Apes (2017)

[Jay Beezy]

Story-wise, I thought this was the weakest. It just didn't seem to have as much focus as the first two so I didn't feel as invested.

 

Technicals were top notch, of course.

[titanic2187]

War=Dawn> Rise

[kaijukurt]

7 hours ago, A Panda of Ice and Fire said:

 

I think that's actually a plus for the film.  I liked that the other Apes romanticized Caesar's actions as a hero/savior, but he was really just as flawed and self-interested as the rest of them.  It speaks truly of our own society, we romanticize heroes and leaders as well, but they normally aren't as great as we pretend they are.

 

Ohhhhhh thats a very good analogy. I like that..thanks for bringing it up!!

[darkelf]

5 hours ago, aabattery said:

Also, has anyone said The Ape Escape yet? Cae-sus died for our sins? Monkey movies are great for puns. 

 

He's more of a Moses than Jesus, tough to make monkey puns with that one

 

Anyway, I liked this quite a lot, it's probably my favourite movie of this pretty mediocre year so far. The revenge story has obviously been done to death by now but it was handled perfectly with the Koba nightmares/parallels. The apes looked even better than in Dawn and the score is simply bombastic. I also really liked Bad Ape, it was great to see a blockbuster that can maintain a serious tone while actually having character related jokes rather than constant quips (looking at you, Shaking-My: Head).

 

As usual, Maurice da MVP

 

8/10

 

Also, it seems that the new Hollywood go-to thing has become non-speaking little girl travel buddies. How long until they run that into the ground? And regarding the next film in the franchise, I would really love to see a boring-ass movie about how their society transformed into the one from the original movie but we all know they're just gonna find some new obstacles and/or enemies so that we can have some more action out of this franchise. They should probably just stop here though.

Edited July 15, 2017 by darkelf

[The Panda]

4 hours ago, kaijukurt said:

 

Ohhhhhh thats a very good analogy. I like that..thanks for bringing it up!!

 

There was another Messiah-like analogy with Harrelson's character, how he mentions he kills his son to save humankind.  It's kind of a backwards look at it, because it ends up only showing him to be somebody to be pitied.

[kaijukurt]

3 hours ago, A Panda of Ice and Fire said:

 

There was another Messiah-like analogy with Harrelson's character, how he mentions he kills his son to save humankind.  It's kind of a backwards look at it, because it ends up only showing him to be somebody to be pitied.

 

Huh I was thinking more of Abraham but a Messiah comparison makes wayyyyyy more sense with Reeves vision.

 

Sits alongside "Moses Caesar" pretty well too.

[Deep Wang]

16 hours ago, WrathOfHan said:

Caesar's death feel obligatory. It's just kind of like "Oh yeah, I have this wound and I'm gonna die. Bye!" The whole execution of it feels so rushed.

 

I had a feeling Caesar was going to die going into it.  

 

Then you find out his son is named Cornelius, they are going to the desert, you meet a young girl named Nova.  This is all set-up to Planet of the Apes - in which there is no Caesar.  So I knew he was going to die.  

 

It still fucking destroyed me.  It was almost perfect. 

[WrathOfHan]

11 minutes ago, Boner Omega said:

 

I had a feeling Caesar was going to die going into it.  

 

Then you find out his son is named Cornelius, they are going to the desert, you meet a young girl named Nova.  This is all set-up to Planet of the Apes - in which there is no Caesar.  So I knew he was going to die.  

 

It still fucking destroyed me.  It was almost perfect. 

Well, yeah. That's like going into Logan not expecting him to die  It just feels like an obligation that Caesar had to die, and if the movie handled it better, I wouldn't have felt that way.

[Cmasterclay]

I absolutely loved it and thought it was the best blockbuster of the year and the best of the trilogy. That said, I agree with pretty much every one of Han's complaints. Didn't like that they gave Harrelson a ten minute monologue where he explains everything. Didn't like the sudden goofy shift into the Great Escape. Didn't mind Bad Ape, though. But my biggest problem was the very end/last five minutes: felt very rote and overdrawn to me. Went about it in the most predictable, blah way possible - it literally follows him up to his big dramatic death overlooking a sunrise. Okay. It turns into a book report in the last five minutes. I also did not like the ending of Logan either, so maybe I'm just weird - totally fine with these dudes dying, but not in melodramatic, predictable ass ways. But these are just me getting my negative thoughts down - the first 2/3rds are blockbuster perfection and I really admire this whole movie.

[aabattery]

Pretty much agree with @Cmasterclay here.

 

I did like that last shot when he lay himself down because it looked pretty much exactly like one of those old renaissance paintings. Kinda schlocky but it was a nice image. The lead up was a bit weak though.

 

Also that lake was GORGEOUS. And the mountains. Urgh. Need to get myself out in that area one day.

[Cmasterclay]

Wait.......the place at the end was supposed to be from the original movie? Maybe my geography's off, but last I checked the Statue of Liberty wasn't within walking distance of eastern California.

[aabattery]

1 minute ago, Cmasterclay said:

Wait.......the place at the end was supposed to be from the original movie? Maybe my geography's off, but last I checked the Statue of Liberty wasn't within walking distance of eastern California.

 

Matt Reeves took a note from the Michael Bay playbook.

[Cmasterclay]

2 minutes ago, aabattery said:

 

Matt Reeves took a note from the Michael Bay playbook.

Nothing is as egerious as when they go out the back of Air and Space and wind up in a giant airfield in the mountains in TF2. At least maybe the Statue of Liberty could have gotten blown...from New York to California? Bay messes with geography, but his films are very historically accurate at least. 

[aabattery]

2 minutes ago, Cmasterclay said:

Nothing is as egerious as when they go out the back of Air and Space and wind up in a giant airfield in the mountains in TF2. At least maybe the Statue of Liberty could have gotten blown...from New York to California? Bay messes with geography, but his films are very historically accurate at least. 

 

I can overlook it. I've never seen anything that rules out the possibility of Liberty Island being a boat. Most simple explanation, really.

 

Occam's razor and what not.

[MrPink]

58 minutes ago, Cmasterclay said:

Nothing is as egerious as when they go out the back of Air and Space and wind up in a giant airfield in the mountains in TF2. At least maybe the Statue of Liberty could have gotten blown...from New York to California? Bay messes with geography, but his films are very historically accurate at least. 

 

Maybe it was the Statue of Liberty at New York New York hotel and Casino in Vegas 

[filmlover]

A terrific culmination of the story that began with Rise and continued through Dawn. What these movies have done so well is conveying what an ape apocalypse could really be like: the unusually melancholy (for a summer blockbuster franchise, at least) tone completely fits. And those visual effects...holy shit. Some of the close-up shots of the apes had me convinced they were real. Just as, if not more, award-worthy though is Andy Serkis, who really does deserve honorary recognition for his work as Caesar (as well as his entire gallery of memorable mo-cap work). The pacing could've been stronger in the middle, and I thought that Woody Harrelson was wasted a bit here (he reveals his evil motives in one big exposition dump when they could've been conveyed in more subtle ways), but so much of the movie is perfect (including yet another memorable Michael Giacchino score). This has definitely solidified itself as one of the best trilogies ever, a great surprise after everyone scoffed when it was announced Fox was rebooting the Planet of the Apes franchise and figured it would be nothing more than yet another cynical cash-grab. A-

[The Panda]

Another interesting thing to point out was that it was Caesar's mercy and ultimate refusal to give into the killing, or war, that killed him.  He ends up offering mercy at every pivotal moment where he could have chosen not to, and the man who shot him is the man he spared.

[The Panda]

3 hours ago, Cmasterclay said:

Wait.......the place at the end was supposed to be from the original movie? Maybe my geography's off, but last I checked the Statue of Liberty wasn't within walking distance of eastern California.

 

The place they ended up was Mt Saint Helens, so that screws with the geography even more.

 

The only thing I can think is this is a different continuity, and so maybe the Statue of Liberty wont be the landmark but the Golden Gate Bridge?

[afalconer7]

This movie is incredible. Fantastic character moments, especially with Caesar. The effects and musical score are fantastic. I can barely find any moment that is out of place. The comedic relief character (Bad Ape) kind of worried me at first but he didn't distract me at all. Andy Serkis gives an incredible performance. A very different movie then I thought it would be but I admire it for that. 10/10

[filmlover]

I dug Bad Ape.