Andy Serkis has had a hell of a career, in particular with his performance capture roles - starring in films such as The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit sagas, as well as in Peter Jackson's King Kong and Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin. But perhaps his most impressive role is that of Caesar, the ape who would lead a revolution in the Planet of the Apes reboot/prequel trilogy. And while he hasn't been nominated for an Oscar yet, prepare to start your petitions after watching this promo clip for the upcoming War for the Planet of the Apes.
Before you start asking the question, yes that speech does sound a bit familiar to us. Andy Serkis' Caesar is paraphrasing General Douglas MacArthur's speech at the Japanese Surrender Ceremony aboard the USS Missouri. But, of course, we had to look that up afterwards, as we were still stunned by not only Serkis' actual performance, but also the naturalistic way that the folks behind the effects wizardry of War for the Planet of the Apes so seamlessly morphed the actor's face into that of his chimpanzee character. Despite his fantastic performance in all three films, as well as the various mo-cap roles we mentioned at the top, he's never been nominated for an acting trophy at the Academy Awards, presumably due to a technicality that doesn't see such performance as eligible for consideration, or worthy because it's all hidden by CGI.
Such a showcase proves that Andy Serkis should, in fact, be honored by the Academy for what could be his last performance as Caesar. With War for the Planet of the Apes being heralded as the capper to a natural trilogy of films, and Caesar being named the Moses of all Apekind, it seems highly likely that this is the end of the road for the ape we saw grow into a naturally kind leader. Should that be the case, we're presuming that Serkis went a couple extra miles beyond his always stellar work, and should that assumption be correct, we're in for a real treat.
War for the Planet of the Apes is already gaining steam with critics, as the film sits at a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, with 50 reviews logged. Now this percentage can always drop, especially considering the film is a bit slower paced than most summer blockbusters, but our wishful thinking has us believing that it won't be too steep a drop, as director/co-writer Matt Reeves certainly brought his A-game to 2014's Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and there's no reason to believe he'd phone it in for the finale.
War for the Planet of the Apes storms the theaters on July 14th, but a special trilogy marathon will run in select theaters nationwide on July 12th. Outside of that, your earliest chance to see the film will be in early shows on July 13th.
