WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES

Maintaining such a high standard of quality throughout a franchise is one of the toughest challenges in filmmaking however, it's a challenge that War for the Planet of the Apes thrives on, going on to become the best of the Planet of the Apes reboot series. Growing in stature and intelligence, mirroring the journey of Caesar throughout the series, each film has delivered and in War for the Planet of the Apes, it has a stunning final chapter.

Two years have passed since events in San Francisco shattered any chance of peace between humans and apes. The two species have been at war with each side suffering major losses. Wrestling with his darker instincts, Caesar (Andy Serkis) ventures out to confront the Colonel (Woody Harrelson), a man hellbent on wiping out Caesar and the rest of the apes.

Opening with an incredibly tense sequence that sees a group of soldiers closing in on an ape trench where Caesar is hiding, War for the Planet of the Apes builds on the foundations laid by its two predecessors to deliver a film that never loses focus of its narrative, all while continuing to deliver spectacle in abundance. The strong narrative is a key feature of the series and War for the Planet of the Apes exceeded my expectations with the story it tells. The strained relationship between humans and apes is just the tip of the iceberg and, if you thought things got bad between the two in the previous films, you haven't seen anything yet.

Caesar remains a focal point for this film and rightly so. We see the strength of Caesar as a leader of both the apes and a family but we also get to see the weakness he has of controlling his conflicting emotions towards humans, visions of Koba haunting him as he must decide what's best for the apes. The majority of the film is spent with the apes and it's a true testament to both the visual effects and the motion capture performances that the film is able to do this.

Matt Reeves returns to direct this instalment and this is easily his most accomplished piece of work yet, beating the stellar work he did on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Whether it's building tension, evoking emotion or delivering pulsating action, Reeves delivers plenty of memorable moments to go with some of the great moments in the series. Reeves' film is accompanied by the outstanding visual effects that have grown better and better with each film, some breathtaking cinematography from Michael Seresin and Michael Giacchino's score that brilliantly accentuates the interchange of emotions throughout.

Coming to the performances, War for the Planet of the Apes continues the groundbreaking work done with motion capture performance throughout the series. Andy Serkis is once again superb in the role of Caesar, giving arguably his best performance to date, conveying such a range of emotion phenomenally well. The time has come for Serkis to get the recognition he deserves with some awards nominations because what he does with the character of Caesar is nothing short of spectacular. 

Serkis is joined by the returning Karin Konoval as Maurice and Terry Notary as Rocket, who both continue the solid work they've done before in the series. It's new character Bad Ape, played by Steve Zahn, that will no doubt steal the show for many people, his eccentricity and likability making him such a stand out from the rest of the ape characters. He comes with a lot of humour and I think they pitched it perfectly, Bad Ape not becoming annoying or unfunny at any point. I was looking forward to Woody Harrelson's presence in the film and, while I thought he was very good as the Colonel, I was genuinely surprised at the direction his character went, and I'm sure I won't be the only one.

Closing out a trilogy is never easy but the final moments of War for the Planet of the Apes is one of those times where there is nothing but silence from the audience out of sheer captivation and respect. It's a stunningly triumphant final chapter in what has to go down as one of the greatest trilogies in cinematic history. 

Verdict: ★★★★★