This has been an incredible time to be a film fan, much less a genre fan, and I don't know what Fox is putting in the water over there, but it seems to be working. Considering they kicked off the Spring/Summer Blockbuster season with Logan and finished it with War for the Planet of the Apes, they're on something of a roll. There are actually a lot of thematic similarities between the two films, and, in some ways, War for the Planet of the Apes almost feels like another neo-Western in its own right, especially in Michael Giacchino's fantastic score (between this and Spider-Man last week, as a composer, he's really been doing some fantastic things, as well).
It's funny, though, because they say a movie can be ruined by bad CGI, but, while I won't say this was ruined, in some ways, I was sort of emotionally torn between two worlds as I watched it. There's some really heavy stuff that goes down in this movie and there's so much raw emotion, and I was simultaneously heartbroken and amazed. The vast majority of the film, I was constantly having to pick up my jaw, because, visually, it's just extraordinary. I'll be honest, I never really considered myself a Planet of the Apes film. In fact, still, I've only ever seen the original of the first series of films, but Rise of the Planet of the Apes was not only one of the biggest surprises of 2011, but, also, one of my favorite films of that year, and then Dawn came along and elevated the series even more, and now, we've reached the culmination of it all with War; we see how the events of the previous films have shaped these characters and the extent to which they've taken a toll on their lives.
This, truly, is one of the best film trilogies in recent years, and, in all honesty, it just now occurs to me that War for the Planet of the Apes has succeeded where so many others have failed: they managed to make a third film that not only completed the story the first two set out to tell and reached the bar set by its predecessors, but is, perhaps, the best of the three. I've liked every Matt Reeves film I've seen, and this one only further cemented my faith in him as the director of Batman. It was dark, atmospheric, and compelling, and he was able to take the audience from heart pounding momentum to heartbreaking tragedy without missing a beat. Definitely one for the books.
Also, on a bit of a side note, this will probably be my first Mondo shirt:
https://mondotees.com/products/wpota-tee
