Apes Retrospective: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes & War for the Planet of the Apes

The next two films, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) and War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) follow Caesar and his growing clan as they begin to build their new world while also dealing with what’s left of the human population. Director Matt Reeves (The Batman) took over these two from Rupert Wyatt, who helmed Rise, and confidently built on the themes and threads that were laid out so well by that first film. Reeves amps up the action and the emotion, providing both human and ape protagonists for Caesar to deal with in both films. In Dawn, you have Gary Oldman as a leader of a small colony of humans who seem to be immune to the virus created in the first film. Oldman is honestly only interested in survival and not necessarily an ape hater. He’s tired and scared, and that’s the only thing that truly makes him dangerous.

Koba, the ape protagonist in Dawn, is straight up one of the most compelling villains of this new century. Played by Toby Kebbell, Koba was a lifelong lab ape, leading to a fierce hatred and mistrust of humans, directly opposing Caesar’s fondness for them. The tragedy of it all is that Koba and Caesar are bros, along with the rest of their crew, Maurice and Rocket. The anger that builds in Koba throughout the film is terrifying to watch. Once he instigates a battle between humans and apes and begins to let apes die willingly, it becomes clear that his hatred has overtaken everything else. 

In War, Caesar deals with a growing number of ape traitors who leave to become servants of military colonel Woody Harrelson, who is hell-bent on killing apes but also has apparently gone rogue and wants to take out what’s left of the actual military? Sounds like an Apocalypse Now situation if you ask me. Harrelson manages to create another compelling and terrifying villain for the franchise as he monologues his way through the movie, eventually revealing that the long-term effects of the virus that took out most of the human population is in fact de-evolution, with humans slowly but surely losing their ability to speak and most general functionality! Franco really fucked the world, man. Anywho, Harrelson has always been great at portraying intense and capable characters, but his going toe to toe with Serkis is genuinely exciting to watch. A terrific performance in a franchise filled with them.

Speaking of performances, you cannot talk about this trilogy without singing the praises of Andy Serkis. His work as Caesar in all three films is monumental. From a naive human-raised ape to King of the Planet of the Apes, Serkis makes this transition not only feel natural but also almost tragic. His love for humans, especially decent ones, is constantly at odds with his duty to protect apes at all costs, and while it’s a very physical performance, Serkis can convey every single emotion with just his eyes. You can see him thinking, absorbing information in every frame of these films and it's truly remarkable. 

The filmmakers also made sure to make plenty of references to the original run as well. In Rise, Caesar’s mother is named “Bright Eyes” after being treated with the serum (while pregnant with Caesar), just as Taylor was in the original film. The very first word uttered by apes was “No!” by Caesar, just as Cornelius foretold us in the original series. We see a newspaper clipping detailing the disappearance of a certain space crew that has gone missing. In Dawn, we get to see the phrase “Ape shall not kill ape” written on cave walls that Maurice is using to teach the young ones that apes together strong just as we saw in Battle for the Planet of the Apes. In War, the colonel calls his patrol the Alpha and the Omega just like the mutated humans at the end of Beneath the Planet of the Apes. Caesar’s son is named Cornelius (which makes me teary-eyed every time I watch it). Maurice even finds his own Nova in the shape of a young girl recently turned mute that they stumble across while on a mission. 

Of course, you can’t call yourself a Planet of the Apes movie without some insanely tragic and heartbreaking moments. Just about everything dealing with Lithgow in Rise is devastating as we watch him regress from Alzheimer’s while Caesar progresses past him. There is one small moment where Lithgow has confusingly been using his fork upside down when all of a sudden Caesar fixes it for him. Heartbreaking. Also, the way Caesar’s mother goes down is just downright maddening (I don’t want to talk about it). In Dawn, the simple idea of ape killing ape is so jarring thanks to the setup in Rise, but when Koba throws Rocket’s son off a ledge to establish dominance I can’t help but wince every time. War for the Planet of the Apes though is one long tragedy. The film is filled with emotion from beginning to end and for most of the runtime feels like everything is going to go wrong in the worst way, but that intensity is what I love so much about this particular entry because it makes the quieter moments filled with the smallest amount of kindness hit extra hard. The character of Bad Ape, played marvelously by Steve Zahn, is one of the most haunting yet heartwarming performances in the entire trilogy, a balancing act of trauma and innocence that perfectly exemplifies everything War is about.

I would be a fool not to mention Michael Giacchino’s scores for Dawn and War. Both capture the percussive vibe of the original, but War in particular twists the knife with its main piano melody that highlights every sweet (and often bittersweet) moment. Just extraordinary.

The Caesar trilogy ended up being a huge critical and financial success, ultimately grossing $1.6 billion worldwide, with over half a billion of that from the U.S. and Canada alone.

As I mentioned in the beginning, the newest entry, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, takes place many generations after Caesar’s lifetime and explores how one’s teachings can be manipulated and distorted over time. Director Wes Ball (The Maze Runner trilogy) has made a film that builds from the previous trilogy while also making it his own. Kingdom has a much more adventurous vibe to it than anything in the Caesar trilogy, but it’s a vibe that is also quite reminiscent of the original Planet of the Apes. The technology for the apes is better than ever and the new cast of apes including Owen Teague (IT), Peter Macon (The Orville), and an all-time great “That Guy” actor Kevin Durand (just look at this IMDB) as Proximus Caesar are fantastic.

Will there be more? We don’t quite know yet! The new entry is performing quite well as of this writing, so it seems like it’s inevitable. I certainly hope so. Ten films in and only one is outright bad. If they can keep it up, I will be purchasing a ticket every time. Besides, given the current timeline the filmmakers are currently following, there is a lot to cover from here to when a group of lost astronauts shows up in a few thousand years.

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