The complexity of Caesar
‘War for the Planet of the Apes’ is the darkest part of Caesar’s rise
With Rise of the Planet of the Apes we saw the spread of a man-made virus that infected and killed humans while enhancing apes. With Dawn of the Planet of the Apes we saw the fallout of the virus, a human race struggling to survive, and a tense but civil relationship between humans and ape. Finally, with War for the Planet of the Apes, we see what’s easily the darkest chapter in the franchise. Humans are still struggling to survive, fighting to keep their place in the world above the army of apes, while Caesar is forced into a war he had no interest in fighting. Serving as an origin story for The Planet of the Apes franchise, these films have been a surprisingly strong and compelling series, and most of that is due to the complexity of Caesar and the character-driven approach taken first by Rupert Wyatt with Rise, and followed by Matt Reeves with Dawn and now War, in telling his story.
Although these movies are essentially telling a story about the fall of man and the rise of apes as a superior species, the very personal journey of Caesar from lonely chimp confused about his place in the world to reluctant leader of the apes has always been the heart of the series. Andy Serkis plays Caesar with an astounding level of complexity and emotion, and even with such limited dialogue, manages to convey pain and confusion by the cruelty of humans and the weight of responsibility in protecting those he cares about. There’s a sadness about him as he’s never sought out violence or power, yet has often found himself thrust into taking necessary actions.
In Rise, Caesar’s compelled to free the other apes and expose them to a similar virus that led to his own superior intelligence after seeing the cruelty with which they’re kept and experimented on. In Dawn, he is willing to make peaceable arrangements with humans, but is forced to fight one of his own, Koba, when Koba leads a violent coup against the humans, upsetting the fragile truce that Caesar helped build.
When we first meet Caesar in War for the Planet of the Apes, he’s defending his secluded home in the woods from a platoon of humans. Although he’s more hardened by battle than we’ve seen him before, he’s still just doing what he must to protect his family. But after several more attacks he’s driven to take a harder stance, and forced to seek vengeance against the cruel leader of the diminishing military forces, The Colonel, played with a maniacal and calculating composure by Woody Harrelson. As he does so, Caesar struggles with his own feelings of cruelty and hate.
War is not a summer popcorn flick so much as it’s a behind enemy lines war drama (with Christopher Nolan’s “shot on IMAX 70mm” war epic Dunkirk now out, sure, these things can sometimes be one in the same). At times this movie feels heavy, and I’m not sure I really needed it to turn into a sci-fi variation on Unbroken or Empire of the Sun, which is sometimes where it goes, but it nonetheless proves to be a compelling look at these two factions, driven by fear and desperately fighting for survival. As cold as The Colonel is, he’s desperate and afraid. Similarly, the more threatened Caesar feels, the further he’s willing to go to protect the apes.
Whereas both Rise and Dawn also emphasized Caesar’s emotional arc as a central element, I’m not sure it’s ever been more clearly at the forefront of these films than it is in War for the Planet of the Apes. The previous films led off with his human co-stars — James Franco in Rise, Jason Clarke and Keri Russell in Dawn — but this is very much Caesar’s movie from start to finish, with a very specific focus on him as a conflicted and reluctant leader. It’s certainly the darkest part of his rise, but I suppose this is always where the series eventually had to go.