War for the Planet of the Apes - 7/14/17 (1 Viewer)

[dpippel]

Principal photography has begun on the next Apes film, directed again by Matt Reeves. The first on-set photo was released by Reeves today on Twitter. Look familiar?

Spoiler

 

[joshEH]

Very nice. Looks like

Spoiler

Serkis and someone else I can't seem to identify.

Either way, hugely looking forward to this film -- Dawn was incredible, and Reeves basically wrote himself a total creative free pass for this one, as far as I'm concerned.


July 2017 is too damn far away right now.

 

[dpippel]

Well it's definitely SOMEONE in a mo-cap suit.


I'm looking forward to this as well. The Apes films so far have been unexpectedly superb and I'm confident Reeves will deliver on this one.

 

[EricSchulz]

Cannot wait!

 

[Darby67]

I look forward to seeing this one.


Darby

 

[dpippel]

The first teaser for the film has been released:

 

[Tim Glover]

Count me in.

 

[Nigel P]

 

[SamT]

The apes look so good. CG has advanced so much. Don't remember if they looked this good at least in the first movie.

 

[Sean Bryan]

Damn dirty apes!

 

[Brandon Conway]

Looks fantastic.

 

[Darby67]

The trailer looks terrific!

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I really should get around to watching the last two films. . .

 

[joshEH]

...Okay, that last line got me.

It's a miracle we live in a world where there's a prequel/reboot franchise to Planet of the Apes, and they're actually unbelievable movies. This whole series has been some rock-solid SF filmmaking. Basically every sequel-maker talks about the jump from Alien to Aliens, but Rise and Dawn might be an even bigger disconnect, and it pulls it off just as well as Cameron did.

I still can't get over how tragic these films are overall -- there's a sense of deep tragedy that you don't see much in recent big blockbusters. Sure, it's married to some colossally-badass scenes -- the bridge-battle in Rise, the ape assault with fucking apes riding horses and shooting assault-rifles in Dawn -- but it's still there, and it hits so hard. The final scene in Dawn with Jason Clarke literally fading into darkness while Caesar laments the oncoming war is unforgettable.

 

[joshEH]

Also:

 

[Brandon Conway]

I really should get around to watching the last two films. . .

Yes. Yes you should.

 

[joshEH]

Was rewatching this trailer for the third or fourth time tonight, when the following little detail caught my eye:

Check out Harrelson's hand. Betting right now his character's last name going to be revealed to be "Mendez."

 

[joshEH]

Holy shit, just caught this, too:

 

[Johnny Angell]

Was rewatching this trailer for the third or fourth time tonight, when the following little detail caught my eye:

Check out Harrelson's hand. Betting right now his character's last name going to be revealed to be "Mendez."

While I've seen all the original films it was in the previous century when I watched them. Refresh me on who Mendez is, please.

 

[joshEH]

While I've seen all the original films it was in the previous century when I watched them. Refresh me on who Mendez is, please.

In Beneath the Planet of the Apes, the leader of the mutant bomb-worshippers underneath NYC was named "Mendez XXVI," a descendant of the Mendez whom, millennia earlier, presumably brought the Alpha/Omega bomb to New York for safekeeping, and whose fellow mutated humans began venerating it.

In Battle for the Planet of the Apes, set after Caesar's revolt, deep in the nuked city, we meet Mendez XXVI's ancestor, also named "Mendez," who, in the extended cut of the film, is placed in charge of the Alpha/Omega bomb by the deformed Kolp, and who is given orders to launch the bomb against Caesar's Ape City (thereby also destroying the entire world in the process), but Mendez refuses, instead beginning the worship of the bomb that we see continued centuries later:

Now, of course, we see the "Alpha/Omega" emblem spray-painted over that U.S. flag in the new trailer, along with the "Omega" symbol tattooed on Woody Harrelson's character's hand when he's pointing the gun at Caesar's head. At the moment, Harrelson's character is known only as "The Colonel," but I'm wondering if his last name will be revealed to be something quite familiar and tied into this prior Apes iconography.