It’s been a long time coming for “War for the Planet of the Apes”, and it had a lot to live up to considering that it’s predecessor “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” is one of my favorite films ever. It was always going to be a virtually impossible task to achieve the standard that Matt Reeves set with the sequel to an already great film in “Rise”, and the “War” is finally here, so how is it? Well...it’s a very well made and a very poignant conclusion to a superb set of films. It has some negatives that I just couldn’t shake, and it’s a film that feels more like a bridge than “Dawn” does and I’ll get into that later. First and foremost, Andy Serkis’ visual effects company, WETA is on top of their game in this movie. They already delivered in “Dawn” and “Rise” but I think WETA has reached the peak (or near the peak) in modern day visual effects. Each shot of Caesar or any other ape in this film had my jaw hitting the floor every single time and it’s fascinating how far visual effects have come. We’re only in July and I’m pretty sure we have our front runner for Best Visual Effects at next year’s Academy Awards ceremony. Behind those visual effects we have Andy Serkis himself playing Caesar once more in what is his best role to date. It’s a captivating, fervent performance that anchors every inch of the story and screen on display from Matt Reeves. Reeves has a knack for capturing images and telling stories that gracefully dance across our eyes in poetic and Shakespearean fashion. Every frame consists of an aching pain for survival and Reeves manages to transcend the term “blockbuster”. Instead of an action driven spectacle to wrap up a trilogy, Reeves conducts a narrative that spends over 80% of its time being a character driven drama piece. We’ve spent two films with Caesar, we’ve grown with him, learned with him, been caged up with him, and nearly died with him, and in “War” it is all about Caesar trying to keep apes safe from harm. He did not start this war with the humans and he’s lost too many apes than he would like because of Koba’s actions. “War” really is a personal story for Caesar and having been on this long journey that has led to this point it makes the character’s arc very resonant and emotionally moving. Caesar is a character with so many inner demons and struggles as an ape it’s fascinating to see a director make us humans relate to an ape in such a powerful way. Many modern day blockbusters seek to thrive of off cheap action, and emotional manipulation to yank a response out of it’s viewer, but “War”, much like the previous two entries make all of the action scenes and character moments feel earned. And while “War” does contain some of the most riveting sequences of drama and hefty themes to be put in a film of this scale, this is it’s biggest opponent throughout the entirety of the film. “War” begins with a beautiful action sequence and the first third of the movie is chugging full steam ahead, but as the movie continues the more it unravels itself. “War” contains some heavy themes of family, leadership, survival, dictatorship, social hierarchy, and this is just scratching the surface. “War” is full of so many heavy themes it weighs down the film and when the movie is focused on one theme it begins to thrive, but the next scene is practically the introduction and conclusion to another theme. While Reeves relies on character driven drama for NEARLY two hours, and kept it compelling for the most part, “War” ends up feeling like a thematically erratic piece despite some of the year’s best moments. This is what frustrates me most about “War” and I mentioned it early, but this movie really felt like the bridge between the beginning of a story and the conclusion of one. So when the ending of the movie rolls along it left me feeling *extremely* cold and wishing that Reeves would have done so many things differently throughout or concluded this trilogy differently to allow me to leave the theater satisfied instead of slightly unsatisfied. When you look at “Dawn” you see a more honed in and focused effort by Reeves, and comparing that with what he attempted with “War” you see an effort that doesn’t quite measure up because of the overabundance of heavy themes weighing down the plotting of the film. What I said might not make sense with what I said earlier in how “War” is a transcendent blockbuster, but that statement still holds true because no blockbuster would try and do what Reeves attempted here. It’s ambitious and attempts to transcend the term “blockbuster” by showcasing you don’t need action after action to craft an engaging story. While a good portion of this movie falls through the cracks you can’t help but applaud what Reeves and Rupert Wyatt did with the previous two entries. Without those films being as good as they were, “War” would feel like a hollow blockbuster that existed just because the previous film made some good money back. A lot of what makes this movie work is the fact that we’ve gotten attached to these characters, thus making us care about their journey and conclusion to that journey. Not to mention that “War” boasts a stellar score, gorgeous cinematography, and some of the most beautifully choreographed scenes I’ve seen in a long time. It’s just that it tries to accomplish to much with the goal it has in mind. It’s like taking the more difficult route to the final destination. It does contain some excitement, but in the end it leaves you asking yourself, “I had a great time, but did we really have to do it that way?” “War for the Planet of the Apes” gets an 83/100