Rise of the Dawn of the War for the Retrospective of the Planet of the Apes
Audiences just can’t get enough of these damn, dirty apes.
This post is mostly going to focus on the modern Andy Serkis-led trilogy, but before we can get there, I want to take a quick step back to the original Planet of the Apes film. It will have mild SPOILERS.
It debuted in 1968, directed by Franklin J. Schaffner (who also directed 1970’s Patton), led by classic-film-super-star-that-doesn’t-bear-too-much-thinking-about, Charleton Heston, and was written by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling. Yes, Rod Serling of The Twilight Zone fame. It was based on a 1963 novel Pierre Boulle, and was a box office success. In fact, it achieved the greatest heights possible for sci-fi films… having its twist spoiled in parodies everywhere. (See the SPOILERS example below.)
That film kickstarted a huge franchise: 10 films so far over the past 60 years. The newest reboot “cycle” started in 2011 with Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The film is an origin story for Caesar, a hyper-intelligent chimpanzee created as part of a medical animal testing program. Raised by humans, he’s eventually forced into an ape “sanctuary” that inspires Caesar to make some, shall we say, drastic changes in his quest for freedom. In my opinion, it’s the weakest of the new trilogy. It’s not a bad film, but it definitely felt like a summer blockbuster of its day.
Confusingly, the immediate sequel is titled Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. This one brought on a new director, Matt Reeves (also known for The Batman in 2022), who upped the ante for the series. Flashing forward several years (past a massive pandemic, don’t think about it too hard), Caesar has built his own community of apes in the Muir Woods in California. A local human settlement collide with Caesar’s community as the former attempts to rebuild a settlement. This movie is much more morally gray and action-packed than the previous film. There are heroes and warmongers on both sides, each of whom are absolutely convinced they are doing the right thing. This film also has Gary Oldman, which is virtually always a plus. Again, just my opinion, but this is the strongest of the three.
The final film in the trilogy is War for the Planet of the Apes. Matt Reeves stayed on as director, but he continued to mess with me specifically by billing it as a war movie that had less war than the previous installment. QUIT YOUR MIND GAMES, REEVES! We move a couple years on from Dawn, and the conflict kickstarted in the last film has dragged on, taking a toll on Caesar and his people. A human militia group led by a fanatical colonel (played by Woody Harrelson) enslaves other apes to fight against their own kind. When things get personal, Caesar goes on a revenge journey against the colonel. It is a very well-made movie in its own right, and there are parts that hit the heartstrings harder than the previous two films. If it doesn’t quite all come together, it does stick the landing for the trilogy.
It may go without saying, the films owe a TON to Andy Serkis in the lead role, really showing what’s possible when actors learn how to make the most of CGI performances, and the CGI team, who turn in consistently great work throughout. The apes blend in perfectly to just about every scene, and that level of skill lets audiences really attach to Caesar as a morally conflicted protagonist throughout the series.
For years, it felt like the films were never streaming at the same time, so I couldn’t catch up on the ones that I had missed, but luckily, with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (probably going to be more of democratic republic, just to keep me on my toes), all three films are now streaming on multiple platforms. While I don’t know how the newest one turned out, if you’re looking for a series to marathon, I think you’ll enjoy this ride.