Reviews of War for the
Planet of the Apes (2017; dir. Matt Reeves) praised Andy Serkis for his portrayal of the head ape Caesar, who leads the simian rebellion
against humanity. To me, Caesar looked
a fairly credible but nonetheless artificial, digital creation. Serkis was convincing here as he was in the
role of Gollum in The Lord of the Rings
films—convincing, but never real. He was easy to accept as a character, just as
characters in cartoons can be convincing, but he never seemed to be what he was
supposed to be: a thinking and talking ape.
The basic premise in this third and hopefully final installment in the
revived Planet of the Ape series is that the war between apes and humans has
reached a standoff. War and disease have
nearly wiped out the humans. A spreading virus is
causing humans to lose the ability to speak and to think on a
high level. The apes are hiding out in the forest. The humans track them down, and carnage ensues.
This film never suggests that there might be two sides to
the story. Whatever sins they might have
committed, it is understandable that the humans would resist the apes who
threaten to take over their world. It’s
also understandable that the apes would seek to protect their own welfare. But there are no subtleties in this
film. Humans are bad. Apes are good. Ugh.
Woody Harrelson appears as the commander of the human
forces. Is there any recent film he
hasn’t appeared in? He rivals Samuel Jackson
for his number of film appearances. In this one,
Harrelson’s character reminds us of Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, and at one point we see the phrase “Ape-pocalypse”
scrawled on a wall--some kind of homage?
There’s an Old Testament parallel. The apes in their search for a part of the
world where they can live in peace unmolested by humans are like the Israelites
in their quest for the Promised Land.
Caesar is their Moses, and like his Biblical prototype he
dies on a mountain top, overlooking the land he has found for his people,
before he can actually enter it himself.
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