Finished rewatching alongside the others to get ready for Kingdom next weekend. I think the title is one that people can get a misconception what this film is about. War in the title is an implication of the mental battle for Caesar. Rather than a war between humans and apes which is what the end of Dawn makes you expect. Still a great film, but I feel that for some people it can hamper their expectations.
Overall the start of the film really showcases how individuals in society look out for themselves. (Obviously Apes in this case) First Red Donkey whom was a follower of Koba. After Caesar let Koba die, he refuses to side with Caesar. But in reality he becomes enslaved to the humans. As he gets treated like shyt by the humans basically and Caesar meanwhile would treat him open arms. Meanwhile, Winter was an ape who defected as well, but his motivation was for his own concern. Assuming his life was at risk he put his life before the rest of the apes. As a result we get the consequence of the attack on their home and Caesar's wife and first son are killed.
Before the attack the goal was to find a better home for the apes, which was found by Caesar's son. But losing both his wife and first son, Caesar was filled with revenge. It took him a long time to realize it, but he eventually became Koba in many ways. His irrational hate for the humans who caused suffering let him down on a path to where the position of the apes got worse because of him. Caesar has shown in the previous two films he is a great leader and the apes have a solid chance of not being captured if he was with them. Caesar is so much not himself to a point when they meet Nova for the first time he isn't himself. Nova is in a position that Caesar was in Rise. Then the humans were getting rid of the Apes after the experiment failed and Caesar was adopted by Will. Luckily Maurice brings her along knowing that the child can't survive on her own.
Nova's kindness was really done well when she provided Caesar with water and food to keep him going. Despite being a human that couldn't speak and communicate like regular humans. You can sense the love and compassion she had for Caesar and the apes that helped her. Truly showing no person or ape is born good or evil, it is the experiences that shape them. This was the turning point of the movie because Caesar dying in camp would have killed morale for the apes.
IMO Koba was a great villain and the best of the 3 main villains in the reboot. But I do have to say Colonel was a great villain as well. Prob a few notches below Koba. He was such an evil b*stard, but in many ways he wanted to look out for humans themselves. Essentially much like how the disease robbed the humans of their superintelligence and being able to speak. Colonel had the approach of killing the virus before it could be spread. A cruel approach, but when you consider it from a non-emotional POV you understand why he did. You do empathize with him, but understand why though. The fact he killed his own disease ridiculed son was reason to understand he was serious. Ironically the disease got to him because the doll that Nova had made its way to him, and it is what spread the disease to him. It's ironic if he followed his plan to the fullest and didn't attack Caesar's home or enslaved the Apes that disease more than likely wouldn't have come to him. His greed got the best of him, and it cost him his life. But overall he was a more interesting villain than I expected.
Despite saying, he is Koba, Caesar didn't fulfill his revenge after seeing the state of the Colonel. He was seeing him dying and killing him with his own hands wouldn't benefit him or the apes in any way. Caesar ultimately is finally able to choose to putting the apes in a better position to escape rather than getting his hand bloodied. It is likely that he would have pulled the trigger if the Colonel was alive. You love to see Caesar cause the explosion to put the Apes in a better position. The sad part is Caesar ends up dying at the end of the film, but he ends it as a great leader. Caesar asks Maurice to take care of and raise Cornelius with the ideas of Caesar. Overall it finishes Caesar's arc, and he can be at peace at the end knowing he has done everything he can for the apes to move forward.
I would rank the films like Rise > War > Dawn. I am interesting what they will bring in Kingdom of the Apes.
