I just got back from seeing the final film in the Apes reboot trilogy. I had to deal with a lot of bullsh*t from belligerent theater goers. Please bear in mind that my feelings on this movie are not biased because of these other people.
CONTAINS SPOILERS!
Alright, so War is the long-awaited final chapter in a trilogy that came out of nowhere and surprised me and many other people for carrying the legacy of the original Planet of the Apes in an entertaining and honorable way. I was completely psyched for this movie, the trailer looked awesome and I was waiting for what appeared to be a war epic with plenty of emotional moments among the chaos and a fitting finale for Caesar's campaign.
Then I saw the movie...and it just was not that good. Don't get me wrong, there was enjoyment to be found in this film, but I don't believe that War is a worthy conclusion at all and missed a great opportunity. So many things about it just felt off, phoned-in, or pissed me off for various reasons. Perhaps the most glaring problem is the mood inconsistency. Steve Zahn is a perfect example of this, with his CGI ape character saying and doing stupid shit that totally detracts from serious scenes. Oh, but it's comic relief, and won't somebody think of the children? I apologize if I remember incorrectly, but Rise and Dawn never had comic relief that felt forced, and if they did, it surely wasn't as blatant as Zahn soaking up the screen with his ape-isms. And it wasn't just him, there were so many scenes that could have been done differently, mostly in the escape sequence.
Then there's Woody Harrelson. By all means, a terrific actor and something of a badass in this movie. We don't root for him, but his performance was well-done (as usual for Harrelson).
Yet, for a movie titled War, there's hardly any war! We don't see enough Harrelson and then in the end when the extremely brief final battle is taking place, he kills himself after catching a mutation of the Simian flu. It was such a cop-out and anticlimactic ending, I wanted him to face off with the incoming soldiers and shoot some shit up.
Guys, I totally understand why some people like this movie so much, and I'm happy for them. I understand my complaints are subjective and that I expect a lot, maybe too much, out of a PG-13 movie that trys to appeal to all crowds, especially the tween/teen audience. I enjoyed War to some degree, but I'd watch the other two any day over this one. So to sum all of this up, War for the Planet of the Apes has a few really entertaining scenes and a few touching moments, but there's not enough war, there's a bit too much goofy shit, mood inconsistency, missed opportunities, and a feeling like they rushed this one.