War for the Planet of the Apes – 2017
Here we are with the third installment of the revived Planet of the apes franchise. The main effect we have here is, of course, the hyper-realistic humanistic apes, accomplished by sophisticated motion capture and facial-capture technology. If anyone thinks that actors that perform rolls in this way should not be eligible for acting awards is fooling themselves, but that’s a different discussion.
The first film in this franchise, 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, had visual effects that were incredibly good. The second one, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes from 2014, somehow improved on those effects, making them even better and more realistic. And before watching War for the Planet of the Apes, I thought they had already reached the pinnacle, and that there was just no room for significant improvement. But I was completely wrong. They topped themselves yet again, and it was incredible! Somehow, they made these fully CGI characters even more realistic and life-like. The way they animated the chimpanzee, Bad Ape, played by Steve Zahn, was especially good, but made even more interesting because he wore human clothing like boots, a snow-vest, and a woolen snow-cap.
One of the things I loved about the animation of the apes was that from one film to the next, the characters were allowed to age. You could see that by this third movie, the main character of Cesar was getting appropriately older, with gray hairs and more wrinkles. They also had the apes featured in different conditions like rain and snow. You could see how their fur became matted when it was wet, or how they became crusted with snow with prolonged exposure to the elements. And I didn’t fail to notice the little detail of being able to see their breaths in the cold environment. Little details like that just added to the realism.
But it was the flawless level of detail in the emotions portrayed on their faces that impressed me the most. The animators clearly understood what facial muscles are involved in displaying those emotions in the non-human faces of the apes. And all these things were based on the real-life acting of the incredible cast. All you have to do is watch any of the side-by side comparisons of the actors in their motion capture suits, with the dots all over their faces, and with cameras mounted on their heads, shown next to the images of the apes they portray, to see that the CGI animators weren’t making the facial performances up.
But that was just the film’s main effect. The movie’s climactic battle was pretty cool. The helicopter battle sequence with its missiles and explosions was perfectly executed, though it was standard fair for this kind of a movie. But I have to mention the avalanche scene. Cesar causes a major explosion that starts a massive avalanche that buries the military installation and the entire human army. It was incredible! The power of the avalanche as it toppled tall pine trees and destroyed everything in its path was pretty awesome! If there is another movie in this franchise, I wonder how they’re going to improve the technology yet again?