Do you remember when it hit you that the Ape prequel trilogy movies are actually…good? Yea for me I think it was 2014 after I watched Dawn. I actually saw that on the plane and it was a pleasant surprise. So much so that when I was doing my annual round up, it turned out to be the best movie I had seen that year. My memory is fuzzy but I might have seen Dawn before Rise and even Rise was pretty enjoyable too (FX had a double show of both movies recently and it was nice to still enjoy the movie)
I was pretty excited for the final installment and went out to the theaters to see it soon as it came out and I am happy to announce that I was not disappointed. Picking up from the previous movie after Koba’s death, the apes have settled into a routine but the peace is disturbed again with the introduction of the new villain known as The Colonel (Woody Harrelson). The Colonel is a ruthless military man whose soul purpose is to fish out Caesar and wipe out the Ape colony. This motive is what leads him to an act that sets Caesar out on the path for revenge.
Guys, I have never been so stressed watching a movie. I went through way to0 many emotions for a movie about apes! I mean majority of it is CGI! But that is a testament to how good everything was. As I mentioned above, I saw the first intallment not long ago and the noticeable different between then and now is how far the special effects have come. The apes might as well be humans and you forget they are and get swept up with the emotions they feel. I shouldn’t take away the great work that Andy Serkis does as Caesar – one of the few apes that can speak.
Because nothing is perfect, the movie had its flaws but nothing the goodness of the movie didn’t outweigh. I totally recommend it and if there is time, would also recommend watching the first two installments (FX has it in its library). Have you seen the movie? What did you think?