By: Johnny Wellens
The first trailer for the third film in the reboot Planet of the Apes franchise has dropped. Before going into it, why don’t you take a gander:
Yes. I’m in. Take all my money, take my wallet, take the mortgage on my house, take everything! I unabashedly love this franchise. I was expecting zero from this franchise when it first started. And now two films in it has quickly become one of my favorites. July 14, 2017 cannot come soon enough.
The trailer opened with a classic trope of these films, apes on horseback. We get a wonderful voiceover by Caesar (voiced and mocapped by Andy Serkis) who laments the war that has begun and regrets that peace was never attained between apes and humans. As always, the apes look fantastic. CGI has come a long way and each Apes movie continues to improve on the last.
I loved the various shots of human groups attacking and being attacked by the apes. Caesar obviously does not want this war but that doesn’t mean he’s going to stop his movement. Caesar to me has always come across as a mix of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Promoting peace, wanting equality but willing to kill in order to preserve the lives of his people. It’s amazing.
Woody Harrelson looks like a real piece of work. But like Gary Oldman’s character in the previous film, he just wants the human race to be on top again. Coincidentally both characters appear to have lost children, which always serves as great motivation. He also gets to say the line! THE line! “If we lose, this will be a planet...of apes.” Awesome!
Last thought, what’s up with one of the final scenes being a group of men firing off a mounted gun with one singular ape with them? Could it be another ape betrayal like Koba from ‘Rise’? We’ll see in July!