Film

War for the Planet of the Apes

Name: War for the Planet of the Apes
Genre: Drama, Science Fiction, War
Released: 2017
Cast: Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Karin Konoval, Terry Notary, Steve Zahn

A richly mounted science-fiction war film where Andy Serkis's motion-captured ape leader Caesar confronts a human colonel across a landscape of ruined cities and moral compromise. It's less about spectacle than about the slow corruption of a noble cause—how survival demands become vengeance, how leaders can lose themselves. For those who want blockbuster scale paired with genuine philosophical weight.

TMDb rating

3.6

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a somber, character-first war story where the emotional weight comes from motion-captured apes whose faces carry more grief than most human actors manage.

Skip it if you need brisk action, since this is long and contemplative, with a melancholy pace that lingers on quiet stretches between its skirmishes.

What it asks of you: Expect a full two and a half hours with few lighter moments, and attention paid to silence, glances and the slow weight of loss rather than to quick cuts.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Rise of the Planet of the Apes2011

The origin that makes the trilogy sing. Sees Caesar as a sympathetic individual learning cruelty is necessary, establishing the emotional core that War repays with devastating interest.

But Lighter in tone than War; if you want unrelenting grimness, this feels almost optimistic by comparison.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes2014

The bridge that justifies the journey. Captures the exact moment trust becomes impossible between species, with visual storytelling so precise you barely need dialogue.

But Slower pacing than most action films; long stretches ask you to read ape faces rather than watch explosions.

Dune: Part Two2024

Shares War's fascination with how justified rebellion can metastasize into something uglier. Epic scope, philosophical weight, and a lead character asking hard questions about his own nature.

But Nearly three and a half hours, and Denis Villeneuve does not rush. Some find it glacial.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from War for the Planet of the Apes

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Stalker1979

Both are interior war stories: the external conflict is secondary to the spiritual degradation of a man pursuing something he can no longer name.

Tarkovsky's meditation on desire, belief, and what we're willing to do for transcendence. A journey into mystery that asks whether the destination matters or only what we become chasing it—Caesar's exact crisis, rendered as philosophical science fiction.

But Nearly three hours of slow-burn Soviet cinema with minimal dialogue or action. Tests patience as a measure of commitment.

Apocalypse Now1979

The war film that understands how conflict corrodes the soul. Coppola's fever dream of command, loyalty, and the cost of power speaks directly to what Caesar is becoming.

But Deliberately difficult. Long, hallucinatory, takes its time with horror. Marlon Brando is barely in it despite being billed above the title.

The Hateful Eight2015

Confined, tense, structured around the question of whether peace is possible once war has poisoned everything. Quentin Tarantino examining whether old enemies can ever truly coexist.

But Ninety percent dialogue in a single cabin. If you want movement and spectacle, this is the opposite.

Sicario2015

A protagonist forced to compromise her principles to survive, watching the world reorder itself around casual brutality. Moral degradation as the real thriller.

But Unrelenting bleakness without catharsis. The good person loses, and the film offers no redemption.

Children of Men2006

Bleak, handheld, treating humanity as a species in decline with a few still fighting for something better. The desperation is real, the hope fragile, the action visceral.

But Uncompromising in its grimness. There is almost no humour or lightness; it's exhausting by design.

Arrival2016

Communication across an unbridgeable divide, the price of understanding, and what we sacrifice for peace. Thoughtful science fiction that trusts the audience to think.

But Cerebral rather than kinetic. More interested in language and time than in action sequences.

The Last Stand2013

An aging leader making a final stand with loyal companions against overwhelming force. Smaller in scale than War but thematically aligned on sacrifice and duty.

But A B-movie sensibility; Arnold Schwarzenegger playing an aging lawman. If you need gravitas, this reaches for fun instead.

Planet of the Apes1968

War answers the original's question with brutal sincerity: what happens when the oppressed become the oppressors? The 1968 film asked it as allegory; War lives it.

The original that War is ultimately engaged with and against. A film about power reversals and the irrelevance of species when hierarchy is the only language we speak. Sharp, clever, genuinely unsettling.

But Earnest '60s sci-fi; the makeup and miniatures don't convince, and the twist depends on you not having read the spoilers.

The Road2009

Both are stories about survival that ask whether survival is worth the cost to your soul. War shows Caesar losing his humanity to save his species; The Road shows a man clinging to humanity as his species dies.

Post-apocalyptic, searching for meaning and humanity in a dead world. A father and child moving through devastation, unable to trust anyone, holding to goodness as the world forgets it. Bleaker than any blockbuster has the right to be.

But Relentlessly grim without victory or reprieve. No joy whatsoever. Based on McCarthy's novel—it doesn't want you to feel good.