"I did not start this war. 

But I will finish it."

SYNOPSIS: 

A trained and organized army attacks Caesar's (Andy Serkis) home and forces him to choose whether he should take revenge or let go of the hurt and focus on being a good leader.  

This movie is the third installment of the prequel / reboot of The Planet of the Apes. In the first movie, everybody's mind was blown away by Andy Serkis's performance acting as Caesar, birthing the debate over whether computer generated characters should be given consideration on winning prestigious awards and honours. His facial expression and aura made everyone's hair stand. That's how powerful Andy's performance was. 

In this movie, his acting is even better as it focuses on Caesar's inner conflict in deciding whether to choose to be like Koba or just forgive those who do him harm. 

Of course, props to the ones who generated the special effects and images. The apes are beautifully created and rather easily distinguished among each other. Seriously, the effects are so real that you can see the tiniest details. The hair on those apes looks so real. The facial expressions are impeccable too. 

Besides Caesar, a new and amusing character is introduced which is Bad Ape played by Steve Zahn. Bad Ape provides much needed humor in this mostly solemn and bleak movie. 

The human characters are awesome as well. Woody Harrelson's 'The Colonel' is certainly formidable and surprisingly easy to empathize upon. I mean, even though he is clearly the antagonist but as he shows his true intentions and reasons, I just can't help but to understand why he do what he do. If I was in his shoes, I think I would also act the same. 

Another good human character is Preacher played by Gabriel Chavarria. For me, it's kinda hard to predict him. At one moment he seems to be like an ape sympathizer but at other moments, he's hardcore loyal to the Colonel's cause. Will he help the apes escape or not? I won't spoil it for you. Not to mention, most movie or TV characters wielding crossbow and arrows do look cool. 

The story might be a negative point for people who expect this film to be an all out war. I'm glad I didn't watch the trailers because from what I read, most who did are disappointed as the full story is not like what is hinted in the trailers. 

The trailers promise the viewers war where many apes and humans die but instead, what is being focused is actually the emotional conflict that Caesar has. Yes, there is still war at the end but not the at a scale similar to war in The Hobbit's third installment. It's more of a skirmish to be honest. Hmm... Skirmish for the Planet of the Apes? Not attractive enough as a title. Heh.

To conclude, I rather like this movie because of the beautiful CGI and awesome portrayal of Caesar. There is no war though. So, don't expect it to be war movie. It's actually more of a drama. 

4 out of 5 stars.