I normally agree with Grace, but I feel she's taken against this movie for really weird reasons and / or she didn't understand the plot. The names of the characters are homages to the original films. They're not the exact same characters, and they don't exist in the same timeline. Woody Harrelson's character would keep Caesar alive to use as leverage so the apes would keep building the wall, and to humiliate him so he could break their spirit. Caesar did have a council of lieutenants to take over when he died, e.g. Maurice, Rocket. He spent most of the movie with them. Maurice even says at the end that he will teach Caesar's son about what he did for them. Also, there's a "paedophile vibe" because the young girl is pretty? I mean. . . WTF? Should Hollywood only cast ugly child actors so they avoid accusations of being perverts? I really don't know what Grace was thinking with that comment.

Uuuuuuhhh lost me on that "pretty girl" / "cute girl" bullshit. Like...what???

The names used in this movie are a tribute to the original. It's not the same exact characters.

From my understanding the 1968 film is set centuries in the future and the names of the characters are just homages.

Ceaser's death is basically the whole narrative ark from Rise of the Planet of the apes. How the professor took Ceaser up, taught him and protected him and how ceaser then became attached to the professor and how he died when Ceaser matured was basically the parallel for what happened with Nova and how she was like little Ceaser in the first movie.

What pretty girl over a cute girl are you kidding me that is a flaw WTF no one was thinking about that while watching this powerful film

Sadly, this is more of a "what I would've liked to see" versus an actual review.

Normally I never have a problem with a reviewer who has a different opinion of a film to me, movies are subjective. But, I just have to say Grace's reason's for disliking this film just seem very strange. I have zero problem with anyone who says they don't like this film, but Grace, you're a professional film critic and should be able to do a far better job explaining why. This review came across very childish.

I don't think she knows that the original film takes place over a thousand years in the future, nova in war is not suppose to be nova in the original same goes for Cornelius

The trilogy was supposed to show how Cesar becomes a God like figure in the ape society from what I hear

Literally every one of your points are nonsensical things that no one thinks about. Really you're criticizing the movie for where the apes lived at the beginning of the film?

They will probably have Andy Serkis back playing Cornelius as they had Roddy Mcdowall play both Cornelius and Caesar in the original series.

1. Woody Harelson kept Ceasar alive when finally capturing him because the situation had changed and he needed to build a wall to repel an incoming attack. It is obvious that he was going to kill all the apes after they were done, but he could not do that beforehand otherwise they would refuse to build the wall. 2. Harelson's second in command (the "good shot") was a preacher. This is not about Harelson's charisma so much as the soldiers' zealotry. 3. Seriously? Another quarantine? I was on Harelson's side on that. They already tried that once and it basically failed. That's what this mutated version of the virus is (the essential failure of their earlier quarantine). They never cured anyone of the earlier virus. Once it was realized that it was happening again, extreme reactions are inevitable, and someone like Harelson is inevitable. 4. He did not realize the doll had come from the outside (that's why he never ordered a search). He was just puzzled as to its origins. Only once infected did he realize what it was. 5. Again, I am confused with your analysis. How would Ceaser being with his group have saved them from capture? As was explained, they were caught almost accidentally. By luck, his going out on his own for revenge is the only thing that saved them. For all your labeling it as "petty" they waste screen time showing Ceasar with visions of Koba driving his vindictiveness. He cannot escape his nature until the final confrontation with Harelson's character. The point of these movies is to demonstrate that the apes have evolved, and by walking this whole arc, you see this process (learning the concept of mercy) in Ceasar.

Grace is way off base with this one. Also, "made no sense" is not the way to watch movies. Logic policing anything creative immediately does whatever you're watching/experiencing a huge disservice. Why not logic police the idea that apes speak then? If you're willing to suspend disbelief for that, then why not that Woody's character would keep Caesar alive? He kept him alive because of his historic posturing -- he likened himself to Napoleon, Alexander, etc. He wanted to make an example of Caesar in front of his own followers. It was all part of the "theater of the war."

I don't understand any of these flaws, you obviously weren't watching the masterpiece that I saw. I genuinely think this is one of the best films in the 2000s or possibly ever, if you can't get past these truly petty flaws then I'm am deeply sorry that you can't enjoy films like this.

Grace...this has got to be one of the oddest reviews you've ever given. Usually even if I don't agree I can still see where you're coming from to an extent. However with this you're not making any sense whatsoever. You'll gush over certain movies like Beauty & the Beast which was filled with flaws/was trash imo. The cgi was awful. Singing was autotuned so much it was distracting. The list goes on. With PotA it looks like you're reaching to hate on this film. It's all opinion in the end, but just saying this review feels disingenuous & just very odd.

One question: Is Grace seriousely convinced that this is directly connected to the original movie? Is she REALLY convinced that THAT Cornelius is the One from the 68 flick? cause well...that's what I call a serious misunderstanding.

1) He doesn't kill Ceasar to use him like all apes. They were using the apes to build their fort. Once they had completed that they would kill the apes. 2) The point at which we are at is 15 years after the Simian Flu. Which had almost wiped out all humans. This is the military branch of remaining humans. They were at war. The Colonel is Col Kurtz from Apocalypse Now. 3) Ceasar was blinded by rage and fury. He himself realized he was being like Koba. 4) There were several leaders left after Ceasar. Maurice, Lake, Rocket and Nova. Part of the movie is establishing this. 5) Mankind wasn't wiped out just the military branch. 6) Nova is a reminder that humans can be beautiful. With all the humans that want to kill apes here is one that only knows love. She affects every ape that comes around her. You can basically reverse things. The longer you get away from the Simian Flu the more Apes show mercy, love and kindness the more Humans become the wild beast. Metaphors!! This review was rushed and done poorly.

The movie is perfect, I don't really find anything wrong with it at all.

Nova and Cornelius ARE NOT the same characters from the original POTA. I don't know why she thinks they are, but they are still almost 2 millenniums away. War takes place around 2025 and the original took place in 3978.

If you're going to review a movie, don't say something as utterly stupid as "It doesn't make sense." You are overthinking this movie way to much Grace

If the colonel had killed Caesar whilst he had control over the entirety of his ape tribe there would've been a revolution of apes: not only would they have stopped working for the colonel, but it is highly likely they would've attempted to kill everyone in the camp. Caesar is also an extra worker himself and if the colonel killed him straight away it would'nt have fit his psychotic character arc; he wanted to play with him emotionally. There was also an amplified level of sympathy for the ape as the colonel knows what it is like to have lost a son.

Maurice is the new leader, did you watch the film

I really loved this movie, yet she didn't. I hated Spiderman homecoming, yet she loved it wtf.

No one is talking about the obvious! I too saw this as a three act movie. Act 1 = Western. Cowboys and Indians. Act 2 = Concentration Camp. WW II. Act 3 = The Ten Commandments. Complete with: death of the first born son by plague; Moses/Caesar bargaining for his people in captivity; freeing them from enslavement; the pursuing army is buried by the Red Sea-Avalanche; Moses/Caesar leads his people through the wilderness to the promised land; when they reach the promised land, Moses/Caesar can't enter but dies on the mountain knowing his people will live prosperously in the promised land. So either way, it's still a good Charlton Heston movie.

should have kept caesar isolated? so that wasn't caesar i saw for most of the end locked in a cage on his own or even tied up on his own then?

cinema sins isn't film criticism. I went to see spiderman again and all I can think about was how much better war for the planet of the apes was

"Oh no! Why's everything so small?" Was my favorite line of the movie.

Movie was great, had a great emotional ending and made u learn more about the humans and the apes. Her opinion for this is incredibly wrong and u just lost a sub👎🏻✋🏻

"Great leaders are supposed to rise above personal conflict" great quote. I can certainly think of a leader who might benefit from heeding that advise...

Saw the movie last night. Grace has this all wrong and I agreed with her about BvS. The point of the movie is that humanity was blinded by its hate and was destroying itself. If this movie has any negatives, it's Harrelson's limited screen time and it's slightly anti climatic ending.

grace I also was disappointed but some of your criticisms are just reaching and make no sense

I didn't get that at all with Nova, sure the flower scene was rather intimate but I wouldn't have ever associated the word pedophilia with the character hahaha I thought of her as more caring/loving than oh the hot new girl hahaha

because this movie shows history repeats its self people never learn...

ur opinion is greatly out weighed to the mass audience

Grace didn't mention what bothered me the most about this movie: how Nova didn't blink when the apes killed her father, and she decides to go with them, yet she cries over the death of an ape she had only 1 interaction with.

Yeah, the humans fighting humans was dumb but that's humanity and we go to war over differences of opinion.

when she says that ceasars death wasnt necessary but that the avalanche scene was brilliant.

this movie was amazing. i dont know what grace was smoking

Ceaser was set up to be the "godlike" figure that was so highly talked about in the future. His death was also incredibly biblical. This is definitely one of the best science fiction trilogy's of all time

It's 1000 years in the future. She doesn't even know what she's on about!

Remember people, she thought Resident evil: the final chapter was good so don't take her seriously.

I never saw the fact that they were trying to make Nova pretty.

Grace you got bigger balls than any other reviewer on youtube. I don't agree with everything you said but I respect it.

Grace will you talk about the wonder woman rumor of wonder woman 2 being in the cold war and bringing Steve Trevor back. I don't like the idea, I think they should bring her into 2017/ modern day.

I think the reason why Harrelson doesn't kill Caesar is because he wants to break his spirit and the apes hopes. Killing him right here might have made Caesar a martyr and apes would have rebelled. As far as the simian flu, I believe the writers made the change to further reverse the roles between humanity and apes. As far as Caesar's death, I believe it was a fitting end for him because all he wanted was a place for apes to lived in peace. I understand all your points as to why you didn't like the rest the film Grace, but I"m glad you still enjoyed Andy Serkis performance. I'll say give that man the Oscar!

The Colonel had no clue where the doll came from. He was trying to figure it out and so he had no other reason to grab the doll.

Did anyone else see the Moses/10 Commandments theme, right down to Ceasar dying as his people enter "The Promised Land"?

The silly nature of the human motivation and the Ceasar anger is part of the theme of repeating the same problems of ego. And the Cornelius of the first movie and the one in War are separated by 1000 years... He is a descendant and not the same character. Same with Nova.

General rule: if Grace doesn't like it, it's a good movie.

1) He wanted to kill Caesar "then" because Caesar was coming for him, he didn't kill Caesar later because the apes would revolt and the colonel wouldn't have his wall.2)The colonel was a dictator, he didn't want anyone else in close to him. The argument escalated because the colonel was unreasonable, no one could make him understand, ok, let's lock the infected, oh wait, The colonel just killed a bunch, you don't want a guy like that around. 3) He found the doll on an ape. Maybe Caesar wasn't such a great leader, what's wrong with that? His feelings made him weaker... So a flaw of the movie, your opinion, as a critic, is that the main character dies? You should leave your feelings aside, as a movie critic, Grace

This movie good in my opinion

Has anyone else pointed this out? The Heston original takes place in 3978 AD. No way is baby Cornelius in this movie Roddy Macdowell. But then I'd have to add that naming the human child "Nova" in this movie achieves nothing.

I have to disagree with Grace with this review. There are potholes in the story and the ability of Nova to get into the camp without being seen when they are supposedly on high alert was a little daft (the soldiers are a bit rubbish all told) but I loved the references to the 1968 film (including the x-shaped crosses, alpha and omega, the names), the biblical/Moses vibe (Caesar never makes it to the promised land as punishment for killing apes) and the soundtrack which has echoes of the 1968 one.

The characters who shared the same name as ones from the original are just references, they're not supposed to be the actual characters from the original film. The original Apes takes place 2000 years into the future.

I reckon Tommy Lee Jones would've been better than Woody

I totally agree with you on every point, Grace. However, I really don't think that Cornelius and Nova are THE Cornelius and Nova from the 68 film, they were probably just references. While Charlton Heston and the others were in space, about 2000 years passed on earth. Also, I'm pretty sure that takes place on the east coast since Charlton Heston finds the statue of liberty. However, I would be very interested in seeing a movie set a hundred years or so into the future about the Ape civilizations, how they interact/fight with each other etc. Maybe there's some great conflict or something which makes them write that holy book they have in the 68 film. Would be interesting!

If Woody Harrelson had killed Caeser in front of the apes, they would have had an uprising. It's like he says to Caeser, if you kill me what do you think my men will do to the apes. In contrast, if he would have taken him out in the beginning BEFORE enslaving the apes, the retaliation wouldn't have been so personal. Killing the leader is bad, but starving and enslaving the apes AND THEN killing their leader would mean instant rebellion, and more personal stakes for the individual apes.

This wasn't an actual review.. just a montage of "what I would've done instead".

I can always count on Graces reviews to be the exact opposite of how I feel about movies.

You seriously didn’t understand this movie. It didn’t turn into a standard revenge flick. He had a chance to kill the colonel when he found the colonel couldn’t talk and was getting sick. But in that moment he started his path to redemption. In a way he showed the colonel mercy by allowing him to go out his way, based on what he believed was necessary now that he was sick. Your take on “Caesar’s pettiness” shows that you don’t understand what it truly means to be human. After seeing his families bloodied, and lifeless bodies, he quickly lost himself, and he went through a hell of his own doing before he found his way back. Because you will notice after the colonel died, he realized what he had become. That he himself was capable of Koba’s thirst for vengeance. Stay awake during the whole movie next time.

its really easy to say "Great leaders should be able to remove themselves from the equitation" Revenge (or Jon Snow comparison, attempt to save family) is a powerful motive to do all kinds of crazy things, if anything it humanizes the characters who snaps out of the "leader" role.

Grace Ceaser death was to end his journey to end a characters journeys since 2012 you saying him dying was a waste is the stupidest thing I have ever heard from a critic

I agree with Grace with this one. The first third was breathtaking, one that should be recognized for years to come. Although this was a fantastic film in my eyes, there is still problems. From the middle to the end there were moments like the avalanche the bad ape introduction which were phenomenal. Also what was pretty neat was how the humans destroyed themselves, not the apes. What faltered for me though was some of the cliches with the guards. Like how Nova got into the base to see Caesar and NO ONE saw her, she went through the gate. It also dragged a bit in the parts Grace mentioned, there could've been so much more happening. Also Caesar's death didn't do him any justice at all. They could've just left him alive because it seems that the apes will stay in their "position" of communication and will not progress in their understandability with each other. Overall the film was fantastic and solid.

Am glad Woody Harrison's casting put me of seeing this with Ceasar biting the dust!

As for the leaders point, That if you fail to rise above every single occasion then you just arent a great leader and that is why great leaders are found in handfuls in the world, even those handfuls arent perfect. Every one of those leaders from Luther King to Neopolitan had deep flaws that they struggled with and sometimes even fell to, but always rose above it eventually,. That is what made them epic and great/ Not that they never fell, but they rose up each and every time they fell. And that is what Caesar does at the end, he rises above his loss, and turns away from the path of becoming Koba.

THis was definitely one of your most off the wall crazy reviews, especially with the Nova comment.

Yay! I've been waiting for this review since I saw it on June 19th

I don't tend to get mad at others opinions but I think this is a great movie and to see her complain about everything makes me mad

I can't believe that caesars son died that early on in the movie

The only thing i was on the same page as you are, is the fact that woody should have been smarter than to just pick that doll with blood on it. True.

I've loved Steve Zahn for so long! I'm so glad to see him get some respect & a good role. Hopefully that keeps up for him. Also sooo glad to see you praise Giacchino!! I've been obsessed with him since Lost and have always said he's my favorite film composer. And I feel nearly every score he writes just proves it again and again.

This was in no way a bad movie, however plotholes were definitely a factor. Since Harrelson was supposed to be an elite soldier it's worth asking how in the hell Nova snuck in to infect the colonel? If that's the case perhaps his superiors should have walked in rather than using a barrage of Apaches.

I like how a bullet doesn't kill Caesar but an arrow does. Weird that Matt Reeves shoehorned a weird dark knight rises ending in both films.

I don't always see eye to eye with Grace (BvS, GotG) but I respect her opinions and look forward to the reviews. This is unfortunately one of those reviews. The movie was pretty great. Woody Harrelson's Colonel was amazing. The movie is long but NEVER boring. Visuals were fabulous. And Caeser's death was the most natural progression of the character.

Woody Harrelson said in an interview that the idea of keeping Caesar alive was because the colonel was meant to be really intrigued by caeser as a character

One word: Disagree! My thought was that the colonel didn't recognized Caesar as the leader and that's why he was put in the gen pop initially. AFTER he pulled rank, that's when he tied him up and segregated him. Anyways, onto the next movie: Valerian!

The score was so spectacular that it almost connected this trilogy to the original series.

Ceasars son, Cornelius, isn't the same Cornelius from the 1968 and Nova isn't the same Nova there's quite a few years in between.

with slave movie and that doesn't it ever occur to the oppressors that the so called slaves may have been there first

I think you must've forgotten the 1968 movie was set 2000 years in the future.

Sometimes I just don't get you. With this review and for Toy Story 3. You take on a different perspective which is not even realistic. You say that having woody and the gang almost burn to fire is too dark for kids. But proof is that kids love it. Your more interested on how you wished the movie went because its so sad and you don't enjoy character struggle than actually reviewing on how the movie made you feel and its achievement on doing so

the ending was perfect.. same scene like ending in blood doom and where dicaprio scene

LOL you was thinking about Batman while you're watching War of the Planet of the Apes? Good reviewer

Grace, I think that a lot of your review is nit-picking, but I will agree that there were major third-act problems and that the mutated virus was a big narrative contrivance (I liked it story-wise, but not logic-wise). As for the Colonel putting Caesar in with the rest of the general population, I feel that the Colonel was in a bind. If he had killed Caesar, especially in front of Caesar's followers, then Caesar would become a martyr. In the previous film, when Koba claimed that humans killed Caesar, the apes became enraged, and attacked the humans. So, the Colonel likely decided to make an example of him, and treat him like the rest of the apes. I think it also sends a rather powerful message that Caesar is helping to build the Colonel's wall--the enemy of humans now helping humans.

Totally loved this movie, helped wash the bad Spider-Man after-taste from my mouth.

once again, your logic behind your reasoning wins out. I was glad to see Steve Zahn- ever since I saw him play a different character in Happy, Texas back 17 years ago, I've always seen him as an under rated actor

The pretty girl cute girl argument is a criticism only Grace could come up with 😂😂😂. Literally no one was thinking that.

Totally agree Grace! I went to see this movie with a friend who was really excited about it and he seemed a little let down. I missed the second movie in this franchise myself, but I absolutely loved the score in this one and felt the movie really crumbled near the end under plot convenience with, like you said, the colonel allowing Caesar to live but also the escape scene with the soldier who just happens to wander into the cage alone and nobody around hears or sees him get taken out even after all the yelling he did.

I bet Grace didn't like the ending of LALA land either. You want them do be perfect and make perfect decisions all the time, lmao.

The human condition and hero's journey elements of all three movies are what make this franchise one of the best trilogies of all time. Great way to end the series with a potential best movie of the year... Also RIP Caesar, that shit got me at the end Grace, this is a great movie... ALL THREE GOD DAMN THIRDS OF IT!!!!!! COME ON GIRL!!!!!!!!!

COULD NOT DISAGREE MORE. This has to be one of the strangest reactions I've seen to this movie by far. I had the opposite reaction. The film got BETTER towards the 2nd and 3rd act. It was just such an emotional, and personal movie that focused so intimately on Caesar. The 2nd movie had all the action i wanted to see. This was a fitting finale to close off the trilogy, one that made me understand both the human and the apes arguments. It was a literal fight for their survival, while building on the past guilt from previous movies instead of focusing on pure action.

Just saw the film. Well the problems are these: 1. how the apes freed the children by throwing shit at the guard who duly opened the gate to stand amongst the adults and berate them. 2. how Woody conveniently lost his speech on the day of the main battle, after contracting the virus from the doll 3. how all the soldiers were conveniently buried by an avalanche at the end, symbolically showing the end of mankind. 4. there was no war between apes and humans as such. The main battle was between humans. 5. very heavily riffing on Apocalypse Now, was almost as bad as the American Werewolf steal in the recent Mummy film.

Who could Andy Serkis play in The Batman? Clayface?

I cant believe you have close to a million subs, lol...

Woody originally went to kill Ceasar in order to disband the apes since they wouldn't have a leader. Afterwards, when the situation evolved and he caught all the apes, he didn't see them as a threat, and he thought he had broken Ceasars will when he killed his family. After Ceasar stood up to the humans and almost caused an uprising, he saw that threatening Ceasar made the apes fall in line. Its not that the apes were rebelling before, but now he had a SURE way to keep them in check, just in case. And youll notice that after this incident, he makes Ceasar work and sleep alone in his own cage. So he wasn't all that stupid. It makes sense to us because we know the story, but to a man who had to kill his own son, and is now in charge of what he thinks is the last hope for humanity, hes going to make mistakes just from the stress of the situation.

Grace, great review as usual. I was prepared to really disagree with you about the back end of the film, but I kinda mostly agree with you, especially about Woody's character. However, I have to offer a counterpoint to your take on Caesar's fate. I kept waiting for you (and any review I've read) to reference the fact that Caesar's story is the MOSES story. His overall arc is Moses, but this film specifically has three huge references. 1. Ape slaves forced into building wall/pyramid. 2. Avalanche/Red Sea engulfing bad guy army who are chasing after fleeing slaves. 3. Because of his sins, Caesar/Moses not being allowed to enter the Promised Land and dying with it visible in the distance (but knowing they'd made it). In all three movies, the human's stories were the weakest parts and having to give them their due, diminished what could have gone down as the greatest movie trilogy of all time. Only good human character in all three movies was James Franco. Everyone else was a cartoon.

your baahubali 2 trailer reaction view over 1 m , i am very happy , now plz review it . i can not wait.

I just saw this today and loved it! It was the best of the trilogy and I felt it ended the way it needed to in order for it to tie in with the 1968 version that supposedly takes place 100's of years later. Andy Serkis was amazing as always and I liked the addition of "Bad Ape". The humor he provided was perfect.The audience I was with loved it too, which was almost totally sold out at a 4:20 showing. As far as Caesar dying, it was fitting. Many great leaders fight and lose their lives for the sake of their people's freedom. I know we all have different opinions about this but I think a good majority will go see this movie and love it.

Andy Serkis for Killer Croc.