Matt Reeves

The most tonally faithful live action adaptation yet of the type of Batman comics I personally prefer -- the gritty, morally complex detective noir stories -- but it unfortunately has a weak third act and a pacing throughout more fitting for a miniseries than a three hour film, both of which hinders it from standing completely toe to toe with the very best Batman films of past decades. Still, it's in the upper echelon of the second tier in my book.

It's a western! It might be called war but it's a Western. Replace the apes with Indians and the story has all the tropes of westerns, individual seeking revenge, individual trying to destroy a threat, miscellaneous adoption of enemy children, heroic deaths, final escape over the hills (or sand in this case). I enjoyed it but also found it rather depressing.

Mistrust between intelligent apes and post-apocalyptic humans leads to conflict.

It's got intelligent writing, believable characters, amazing visuals, and everything about the world seems real. It takes itself very seriously - as seriously as if it were a film about a real war. There's never even the slightest break from darkness. There are some really cool Apes Kicking Ass shots, but in context they're too tragic to be fun. And there's zero suspense - everything is too inevitable for that. show more It's an impressive movie, though, and I look forward to when they finally get around to remaking the original.

Concept: A
Story: B
Characters: B
Dialog: B
Pacing: B
Cinematography: A
Special effects/design: A
Acting: B
Music: B

Enjoyment: B

GPA: 3.3/4 show less

Giant monster smash.

4/4 (Great).

I enjoyed this a lot more than I did when it first came out. Part of that is probably due to the handheld photography working on a small screen (and being awful in the theater). But mostly I think it's going in without the baggage from J.J. Abrams' BS ad campaign.

(Jan. 2021)