Slanted Review: War for the Planet of the Apes

War for the Planet of the Apes (directed by Matt Reeves) is the third installment in the current Planet of the Apes series, and is without a doubt the one of the best Planet of the Apes movies to date.

What War for the Planet of the Apes does very well is propelling the story forward while using very minimal dialogue. With a few minor exceptions, the only main characters that actually speak are Caesar (played by the amazing Andy Serkis), the Colonel (played by Woody Harrelson), and Bad Ape (played by Steve Zahn). The movie feels interesting to watch because the viewer doesn’t spend so much time focusing on dialogue, they are mostly watching the action and excitement on screen. That said, what sets this Apes movie apart from all the other films in the series is not the action; it’s the heart.

While other Apes movies mostly rely on the action happening on screen, what War does is examine the emotions behind the actions on screen. When the actual war begins in the third act of the film, you feel the strong emotions behind Caesar’s actions and his motives. You feel almost empathy for the Colonel, and despite him being the “big bad” of the movie, you strongly feel the emotional reasoning behind his actions. There are many emotional scenes involving Nova, the little girl the Apes find early in the story, and Reeves does a fantastic job of using the camera to enhance the emotions captured on screen. Reeves obviously knows how to work the camera to produce interesting, beautiful looking shots that capture what’s happening in a way that is superior to other filmmakers.

What War for the Planet of the Apes truly excels at is playing high on the audience’s emotions, and using those emotions coupled with minimal dialogue to propel the story forward.

War for the Planet of the Apes is in theaters now and is rated PG-13.

Slanted Rating:

9/10- See it in theaters NOW!