Rise, Dawn and War of the Planet of the Apes

I finally sat down to watch the latest Planet of the Apes trilogy this week. To clarify, I watched the second (Dawn) and third (War) films a while back, but never from start to finish, and before I had the film knowledge I have now.

I've wanted to watch the trilogy in full for a while now, and finally managed to convince my family to watch the films with me. I knew the films had Andy Serkis as Caesar (whom I think is an incredible actor when it comes to CGI-ed characters), as well as included themes that could be extremely relevant to today's world, so I was excited to watch them.

We started with the first film in the trilogy; Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

If I were to describe this film in one word, it would be 'Incredible'. Just absolutely incredible. This film, in my opinion, is the perfect introduction film for the trilogy. It establishes everything - from the characters and their relationships, to the main (and sub) conflict/s, to the themes that present themselves and will remain throughout the three films - perfectly. I loved Caesar's inner conflict and his struggle with his identity as an advanced ape raised in the human world. I think the filmmakers handled his reaction to the world's cruelty and the power plays between both humans and apes perfectly, the way he slowly adapted to the world around him, while still trying to progress forward with fairness (and how that comes back to bite him in the later films). The introduction of other characters in the film also felt perfectly timed, and helped move the story forward. The sub-plot about the virus and the humans felt necessary, but didn't overthrow Caesar's plot line. Caesar's reaction after he unintentionally killed his handler (Draco) conveyed his character perfectly, and helped subtly build the main character conflict for the following film. Not to mention the amazingly beautiful visuals the film serves the audience. Of course the CGI is stunning, the apes look extremely realistic and look natural against the sets used. I also personally believe that this film has the best CGI of the apes out of the three films.

On top of all of this, watching the film now, knowing what we know about the pandemic our world is experiencing at the moment, was intense to say the least. The way the virus spread at the end of the film, and animation used to show this during the credits was absolutely chilling. The film was made in 2011, and it is still remarkably relevant today (if not more today than it was then).

This is definitely my favourite out of the three films.

The next day we watched the second film; Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

I didn't like this one as much as the first film. Overall, it felt quite rushed and underdeveloped. The humans' plot line felt a bit unnecessary and out-of-place among the apes' plot line (although I am aware it was mainly used to help advance the apes' plot line and the conflict between Caesar and Koba). There wasn't much character development in the film, besides Caesar's son, Blue Eyes. I think Dreyfus was a bit of a useless character. I believe he was supposed to act as a motivation for Koba, while also being a sub-antagonist (?), but he didn't add much to the story, and was kind of just there in the background. The visuals were good, but not amazing as the first film's.

However, I did have a couple favourite moments from the film. The first was the opening scene, reminding the audiences of the deadly virus that was introduced in the first film, and showing how it affected the human race across the world (again, I liked this part because of applicable it is to today's world). Another favourite moment of mine was the scene showing the ape school, and how Maurice taught the young apes sign language, as well as reading and writing, and the ape society's rules and values (while my dad's favourite moment any scene showing the apes ride horses).

We then moved on to the final film in the trilogy; War for the Planet of the Apes.

There's not much to say about this film. I thought it summed up the trilogy pretty nicely. I liked how desperate Caesar's character got in this one (*spoilers* after having both his wife and son killed), and how it helped introduce a different, cruel, side to Caesar - a side he tried to avoid and repress. I also liked Woody Harrelson's acting (but when don't I?), although I didn't love his character. I didn't love the visuals in this film compared to the other two (specifically the CGI) - I thought the gorillas looked a bit weird. But, I don't really know anything about CGI, so who am I to judge.

My favourite thing about this film was Maurice. I loved how involved he was in this one, and how attached he got to Nova (my dad'd favourite part was, again, seeing the apes ride the horses).

Overall, I think this trilogy is wonderful. It presents the problem of humans thinking they are better than everyone and everything pretty well, and perfectly criticises the way we handle problems and threats. The concept of the virus was also handled well, and sends a chill down my body at how relatable it is today.

I would definitely recommend watching the trilogy if you haven't, and if you have, to re-watch it with today's mindset.

Thank you for reading, I will see you in the next post,

Noa.