The first trailer for War for the Planet of the Apes is finally here, over two years after the release date for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. They’re sure taking their sweet time with this rebooted Planet of the Apes series.
Not that I’m complaining. The result has been one of the more thoughtful and imaginative blockbuster series, giving the post-apocalypse its due in the midst of endless YA trivialization of the genre. This War for the Planet of the Apes trailer brings the events of Rise and Dawn to a cataclysmic point of no return. Survival of ape and man is on the line. And with Caesar on one side and the Colonel (Woody Harrelson) on the other, it’s looking more and more like a zero sum game.
This first trailer makes some broad swipes at a plot, but it’s nothing you wouldn’t have guessed from the title. It’s war:
In addition to all the bang bang shoot shoot tracer round kablammo business in the War trailer, there are hints of stranger elements coming to the ape culture that will one day blossom into the Planet of the Apes . According to IGN, in War for the Planet of the Apes Caesar will discover more pockets of intelligent apes. The ALZ virus continues to spread, endowing apes with intelligence, but striking new generations of humans mute (like that little girl riding on horseback with Maurice).
There’s a thin undercurrent of mysticism to War evident in the trailer. Who is that mysterious albino gorilla? Why are certain apes collaborating with and fighting on the side of the humans? What is the quest Caesar and Maurice embark upon that brought them on horseback to that beach, so reminiscent of the Forbidden Zone beach of the original 1968 movie?
While there’s piles of evidence War for the Planet of the Apes will deliver combat and action when it arrives in theaters July 14, 2017, I’m hoping the small mysteries in this trailer could result in the beginnings of ape culture and legend, maybe even the introduction of that other pivotal figure in Planet of the Apes history: the Lawgiver.
