War For The Planet of The Apes: Let’s start with showing y’all the trailers shall we?

War has begun….oh boy I should warn y’all about something, this film is bleak and depressing….if some y’all don’t like bleak and depressing films then this one ain’t gonna be it for u…sorry to say…

But before I get too far in let’s get the rating out of the way….so overall yeah I once again enjoy this movie….it’s nowhere as amazing as Dawn of The Planet of The Apes, but this comes as a close second….

This movie has its ups and its downs which I’ll get into the spoilers, but I did wanna mention that the issues I have with this film which are very few…is what kind of tainted my enjoyment of the film…but again we will get to them later…

Matt Reeves still brings his A-game to this film, we cannot take that away from him….the guy knows how to direct his movies….

So overall I’ll give this film a solid 9.5/10…I highly recommend it, right now it’s on Disney Plus/Hulu….ok from here on out warning ⚠️ spoilers ahead y’all has been warned….

So this film’s plot takes place 2 years after the events of the last film…..the film plot kicks off when Caesar sends back a group of military men who came and attacked them, back to their leader named the colonel….as a sign of mercy…..

But this was not a good idea, in fact, this is what leads to what’s about to come next….because what this leads to is the colonel returning with his men, they attack Caesar’s home during the night….. the colonel goes to kill Caesar but instead, he ends up killing Caesar’s wife and son Blue Eyes…….ohhhhh noo…but where’s his second son?

So Caesar walks in and sees his wife and son dead, he then sees the colonel hooked up to a wire about to be taken back up to his helicopter over the waterfall….the colonel turns around and notices Caesar….this introduction to the colonel is so spine-chilling…

He turns around we sees black war paint over his face also we see the colonel is played by Woody Harelson of all people…such a great actor…..so the colonel gets raised by the helicopter, Caesar follows suit on the rope but the colonel cuts the rope….

Caesar wakes up to find his second younger son named Cornelius…who’s hiding in the corner…..so now Caesar leaves his people behind and his son so he can go after the colonel for what he’s done…..but Maurice and 2 other Apes tag along, they don’t think Caesar should be going alone.

So he reluctantly agrees to let them come with him, so the team heads on out on horseback to go search for the colonel…..so on the way to whoever they’re going they find a small house where they find a girl curled up in a corner….Caesar has his gun aimed at her but Maurice walks up to the child calmly….they realize the girl can’t talk….

Well, get to why later because that’s the mystery to it all….why can’t this 8-year-old child talk? Who knows, btw she’s also is holding a stuffed bunny toy that’s all she has…..Maurice wants them to bring the girl with them, but Caesar doesn’t want it…but who cares because she joins anyway….at Caesar’s expense….

They eventually come upon body bags in the forest, and inside they find humans….one of them wakes up, and they have blood on their mouth….just like the girl they can’t speak….Maurice figures that out…..hmmmmm I wonder what’s going on? This is a mystery…

So then the group meets this new ape that’s not a part of the group, his name is Bad Ape….because he calls himself that (also he’s voiced by Steve Zahn) yall might remember him as the actor who played greg’s father in the live action Trilogy of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, btw that was a perfect casting to play Greg’s father…heck the entire cast in those 3 films were perfect casting for those roles….but that’s for another discussion later…

Anyways so Bad Ape tells them of this human zoo he escaped from…..that he won’t go back there…

BTW if yall are wondering where this ape came from? Why can he speak in full sentences more than Caesar and his group? What sort of variant of the virus probably affected that ape? Well, that was the point Matt Reeves wanted us to question the broader world and what else is out there…

How did the other apes get affected? How did they learn to speak even though they were not a part of Caesar’s group…..so Caesar wants Bad Ape to take them to the human zoo but he refuses to because he basically has PTSD….

Oh also the gang names the little girl Nova because she picks up a metal plate that says Nova on it….now majority of Planet Of The Apes fans (which I am not one of them) recognizes the name Nova because one of the original human female characters in the old Planet of The Apes films was named Nova….well that’s a cool Easter egg….

Eventually that night while everyone is asleep, Caesar opens up a jit to bad ape…telling him that the colonel killed his family so now he needs to go after him, so bad Ape agrees to take them to the zoo….so they head out the next day, they find the zoo….they also see that the colonel has captured all of Caesar’s family/men….there all in cages dunn dunn dun…

He tells the others to stay back, hidden while he sneaks in to save them….hmmm I bet this plan will fail….oh look at that it does because Caesar does get caught, then gets brought face to face with the colonel….he asks Caesar who did I kill that night? Caesar says my wife and son…which the colonel says I’m sorry, I was after u….

Well, how sweet of the colonel? Anyways he gets locked up in a cage, he gets tortured, tied up to a cross….not allowed to drink water or eat….

Eventually, the colonel invites Caesar up to his room to have a conversation with him all while he’s boiling hot water and whiskey….

So here we find out the colonel and Caesar aren’t completely different….in fact they are kinda the same……let’s look at the parallels between them

Caesar lost his family and is on a vengeance quest to avenge them…

The colonel lost his son, now he’s on a quest to avenge his son and the rest of the humans, to try to prevent them from going extinct…

But unlike Caesar, were his family was murdered….the colonel killed his son, here’s why….he said before my son got sick he was a part of the military, but one day he just stopped talking…they thought he had PTSD especially after the doctors examined him so they sent him home…not a week later that same doctor who examined my son stopped talking….

Then he got examined by another doctor, then that doctor stopped talking…do u see where this is going? Turns out they including the colonel’s son got this new strain of the virus, btw This new strain doesn’t kill humans anymore, no it instead takes away your ability to speak and be as intelligent as u normally were…..

Oh also u still bleeds from the nose and mouth, just like the early stages of The Virus in the first film….so the colonel put his son out of his misery and killed him….

So now you’re seeing the similarities aren’t u? Caesar lost his family but decided to go on a blood-lust vengeance….the colonel lost his family and is instead taking the religious way of thinking that he’s gonna be the savior of humanity….

Oh did I forget to mention some of the apes changed sides and joined the colonel…why u may ask? Because they’re terrified of him and they want to survive……although doesn’t stop the colonel and his men from being demeaning to those Apes, they label these Apes as Donkeys….wow that’s hurtful….

There’s this one gorilla who’s now a donkey who’s doing the colonel’s demands and orders…..also I just love Woody Harelson’s acting, Caesar tries attacking the colonel and the guy’s reaction is him throwing his arms up in the air and saying “so emotional!” Lolo…

BTW there’s a deleted scene where it’s confirmed that the colonel killed Malcolm from the last film….Caesar asks what happened to Malcolm? Which the colonel says I thought he was crazy….which Caesar says what did u do to him? Then colonel says I killed him…..well at least we know the fate of Malcolm, and it isn’t happy….

Anyways Caesar gets placed back on the cross….that night the colonel tells the donkey to put him in the cage, if he survives by tomorrow morning he’s gonna go work in the land mine….keep in mind Caesar is starving, malnourished, and thirsty also injurd…..awwww.

So that night while he was asleep wheezing in pain…..Nova the girl sneaks in, and this scene warms my heart…she puts her stuffed bunny near him to cuddle with….he feels this wakes up notices Nova….in sign language she asks want water? Then she leaves comes back with a bucket filled with water…we get to see Caesar have some water and he’s extremely thirsty…he’s gulping down the water….aww..

The other apes in the other cages ask Nova to come over, they hand her some seeds to eat to hand it to Caesar….so she brings it over to Caesar, now Caesar has something to eat….this Nova is so generous…..he asks her to hide, one of the other apes in the group who’s still hiding with Bad Ape and Morris notice Nova so the 3rd Ape goes down there to turn himself in to distract the colonel while Nova escapes….

The colonel has his men put the ape in the cage, so the next day Caesar survives, so the colonel opens the cage up and orders him to go work with the apes at the mine…then he sees the stuffed bunny and asks where did u get that from? BTW Keep this part in mind the colonel stupidly picks up the stuffed bear that has been touched by Nova btw…a girl with the virus in her…

But the colonel doesn’t know that, but knowing how cautious he’s been, it’s almost baffling why he picked up this toy with no protection…well, I guess his hubris finally got the better of him…..so anyways later that night the rest of the army is about to come because the colonel contacted them so now Bad Ape and Morris have to come up with a plan to break the apes out…

So they sneak into the sewers, to sneak inside…eventually the military does show up and here’s where things get weird, instead of the military helping them out they instead start attacking the colonel’s base and men…now it’s a full out war against 2 armies…why? Idk either…

But the apes are in the middle of all this mess, during the chaos the 2 Apes do rescue the apes and Caesar…..so Caesar finally goes upstairs to end the colonel once and for all….now I want y’all to sit back because this is where things take a turn…

So he enters the colonel’s room where he looks at the table, sees whiskey splatered on the table and some drops of blood…..ohhhhhhh…

Then he notices the colonel in his bed head down, trying to reach his whiskey bottle that’s on the floor….then Caesar sees his gun on his table….proceeds to grab it then aims it at the colonel’s head…..the colonel looks up, blood sounds his mouth and nose….ohhhhh he got the virus.

He tries speaking but all that comes out is gurgling, the colonel really shouldn’t have picked up that toy….then the colonel aims the gun at his head basically begging Caesar to put him out of his misery….but Caesar can’t bring himself to kill the colonel….so he places the gun down and leaves the room…..

Then the colonel picks up the fun and aims it at his eye shooting himself and putting himself out of his misery, if anyone thought that’s anti-climatic….well idk what to tell u….I found it to be poetic that he got the virus he was so afraid of….

Anyways so the gang start escaping the base, Caesar tries tossing a grenade at a propane tank but Caesar gets shot…..just then the gorilla donkey changes sides and kills a guy who’s about to kill Caesar…but then the gorilla gets killed off….oh no…

Anyways so the gang leaves the base just then an avalanche comes down, convenient if u ask me….wiping out every human but the apes because they cling on the tree…..convenient…

Anyway the film ends with them making it to the Promise Land, where Caesar takes a seat next to Morris at the entrance, he talks about the sacrifices to get here….then he akss Morris to take care od his son…then Caesar looks out at everyone then falls over and dies….awwwww! That was a bitter sweet ending…

The end, I hope y’all enjoyed the review…