Andy Serkis Talks Caesar's Dark Journey Ahead in 'War for the Planet of the Apes'
War for the Planet of the Apes is looking like the film that completely sheds the exterior of its original franchise counterparts back in the 60s and 70s. Because while those were adventurous, light-hearted blockbusters, this franchise has turned into a dark examination of war and the inevitability of it.
“This is a much darker, much more brutal, harder, tougher, very brutal film” Andy Serkis told Collider. “As brutal as you can get within a PG-13. Not in an overly graphic way but in its emotions and context. There’s a real sense of foreboding in this movie.”
“If you remember where we left off, the apes had become divided under the leadership of Koba. Caesar was carrying an enormous amount of guilt after going against one of their primary tenets which is that you shall not kill apes.
“So two years have passed and the ALZ drug has continued to enable Caesar to develop. He’s there now living in a situation where both apes and humans are at war. There’s a sense that this is the crux, this is the climactic moment where both species are under huge threat and it’s pretty apocalyptic.
"They’ve weathered… both sides are worn out. Caesar’s side had to leave their encampment in the woods and move up higher in the hills and set up a temporary base. You’ll remember Caesar as a character — one of his main characteristics, having been brought up with human beings, was to be empathetic to both sides but an event happens at the beginning of this movie that sets him off on a track that almost eats him up…”
Producer Dylan Clark explained that Caesar goes on a journey at the end of the first act because he does not believe he can lead. He believes that "if he can kill Woody [Harrelson, the human antagonist], the apes can win this war and start anew.
"It doesn’t work out that way. Caesar, on his own, gets caught in his own thing…” Serkis explained it as a revenge mission, and honestly, this film is starting to sound pretty impressive just off of that.
Rise was a solid reintroduction to the franchise, but Dawn really pushed it forward again. Hopefully, War can build upon the previous film as that one did before it, and this franchise can continue to grow in stature.
Source: Collider
