Official Description: Gary Oldman, Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke and Keri Russell star in this thrilling next chapter of The Planet of the Apes. It is 2026, and humanity has been pushed to near extinction by a deadly virus. When a group of survivors desperate to find a new source of power travel into the woods near San Francisco, they discover a highly evolved community of intelligent apes led by Caesar (Andy Serkis). The two species form a fragile peace but dissention grows and the groups find themselves hurtling toward all-out war.
Unofficial Description: Well. This is another one I wanted to see in the theater. Alas, that didn’t happen. So. BluRay.
There are times when I wish I could turn off the writer side of my brain. Sometimes I succeed. More often than I like to admit, I don’t. Like when I watched this movie. I immediately started categorizing characters into roles.
The Intellectual: Malcom. (Jason Clarke) He is the Daniel Jackson (SG1) character who believes logic and reason should win the day, and all we have to do is talk through our problems. He is completely blind to how deep the anger and mistrust among apes and humans truly goes. It’s this blindspot that ultimately spells doom for everyone.
The Antagonist: Koba. (Toby Kebbell) He is Caesar’s right-hand and his hatred and distrust for all humans means trouble is coming, and soon.
The Skeptic: Dreyfus. (Gary Oldman) Like Koba, he doesn’t trust easily, and sees the apes as the problem, and Maclom’s attempts to make peace as ultimately futile.
The fun part is that the actions of both Koba and Dreyfus become self-fulfilling prophecy. They bring about the very future they both fear.
The Dumb Motherfucker Who Ruins Everything: Carver. (Kirk Acevedo) Sigh. He didn’t even have to say anything, and I knew he’d screw it all up. And he did. Twice.
Overall, I enjoyed this movie, despite predicting much of the plot. One thing I thought absolutely implausible (in a sea of implausible?) was Malcom and crew taking Caesar to the very house in San Francisco where he lived before. WHAT ARE THE ODDS? HUR HUR IF YOU’RE THE WRITER OF THE SCREENPLAY AND NEED IT AS A LOT DEVICE I GUESS THE ODDS ARE PRETTY DARNED GOOD, EH?!
