This film picks up a couple of years after Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, as the ape leader Caesar is trying to lead his people away to a new homeland. But a particularly ruthless human colonel is leading attacks against them, seeking to capture them for forced labor. Meanwhile, the virus that began it all for the apes (or ended it all for the humans, depending on your perspective) seems to be changing, posing an all new threat.
I am not often one to be wowed by visual effects in a movie, but what's going on here in War for the Planet of the Apes is so impressive, it's hard to overpraise. This feels like a foundational movie that will one day be looked back on as a moment that CG in general -- and performance capture in particular -- ascended to another level. Every single moment presented on screen is so convincing that it's easy to be swept up and forget that you're not looking at something real. On the other hand, if you know even a little bit about computer animation, everything you're seeing is so well realized that it's almost impossible not to stop and think "I can't believe they can do that!" -- which does unfortunately pull you out of the movie at times.
It's the degree of difficulty here that's so impressive; it's so high that you almost wonder if teaching real apes to talk and act might have been easier and less expensive. CG characters with life-like hair physically interact with each other, with human actors, and with real objects (and animals!). The story takes place mostly in a wintery north, adding more challenges: you see the characters' breath in the air, and see how the snow reacts on their fur and clothing. Interactions with light and shadow are more complex than ever before, such that you never question that the characters are in a real environment. (In one particularly jaw-dropping moment, the reflection of a campfire can be seen dancing in a CG character's eyes. Incredible.)
But the most amazing -- and important -- aspect of what was accomplished here is in the fine details captured from the actors' performances. This movie is all about the apes, told from their perspective, and placing the sympathies of the audience squarely on their side. The number of ape characters, the depth of the emotions they convey, and sheer screen time they're given, would have been absolutely unthinkable not long ago. Without being able to capture truly subtle nuances from the actors and transferring them to the CG "puppets," this story simply could not have been told. Not in a way that an audience would invest in and care, anyway. In short, if this film doesn't win the Academy Award for visual effects this year, it's only because Academy voters are too stupid to realize what an amazing achievement this was. (Which I might not put past them.)
Of course, the technical achievement is just the flashier component of the performance. The ape actors underneath are doing incredible work here too. Andy Serkis has a long career of motion-capture triumphs, but his performance in this movie may truly be his best ever -- layered, nuanced, and believable. And still, good as he is, Steve Zahn practically steals the movie as new comic relief character Bad Ape. There's more great work from actors who have been part of the franchise all along, but who have never become noted faces of motion capture like Andy Serkis -- particularly Karin Konoval as Maurice and Terry Notary as Rocket.
Unfortunately, the script isn't quite as flawless as the technology. The pacing is a bit slow overall, particularly in the first act, and this gives the audience too much time to anticipate the plot developments. The human characters are lacking the depth of their ape counterparts; Woody Harrelson's Colonel in particular is left a cipher for much of the film (in deliberate homage to Apocalypse Now); his attitudes and motivations are exposed a bit too late in the narrative to save the broad caricature.
There are some fun ways in which this movie is made to connect with the original 1968 Planet of the Apes. Most successful is how the film explains humans losing intelligence and the power of speech by the time we see them in the original film. But more of a mixed bag are two characters that share the names of characters from the original film; I'm not sure if we're supposed to believe that these are those two characters (in which case the ship's estimated 1000 year jump into the future in the '68 film was dead wrong), or whether these are supposed to be sort of foundational/Biblical type names that just get reused all the time for the next thousand years.
Overall, I think this Apes film was a step up from the last one. If the narrative had worked for me as thoroughly as the visuals, it would easily be the best of the lot. As it stands, I think the first reboot edges this one out just a bit. Still, I'd grade this a B, and recommend it overall.
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