Since the reboot of the Planet of the Apes franchise back in 2011, the series has been on quite a roll. After two successful films, the series continues this summer with War for the Planet of the Apes.
The Planet of the Apes film franchise began in 1968 with the original starring Charlton Heston. The original is known as a classic film by this point. It spawned four financially successful sequels (Beneath, Escape, Conquest, and Battle of the Planet of the Apes) despite varying critical responses to each. 2001 brought about the first attempts at a reboot with Tim Burton as director. The reboot received lukewarm reviews at best although it did feature some decent special effects.
With this new series, things have turned around for the better. The current two films of the series have established a solid foundation with their Oscar nominated effects, tense story, and solid casting choices including the always spectacular Andy Serkis as the chimpanzee, Caesar. This first trailer for the upcoming sequel continues the trend. In fact, the trailer is quite dark as an army of humans, led by the Colonel (Woody Harrelson), prepare for battle against the apes.
It’s nice to see an action/sci-fi genre film take a darker turn for once unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe where heavy issues are often offset by comedy. It’s also nice that this series is unlike, say, the Transformers series with a seemingly nonexistent plot followed by mind numbing action for a film’s duration. The Planet of the Apes series has gotten it right up until this point and hopefully they’ll continue to do so with the upcoming installment.
War for the Planet of the Apes opens on July 14th, 2017. Check out the trailer and comment below.
