ANOTHER ONE

Shane Morehead, Staff Writer

Several huge movies are coming out this year, and anticipation for those movies are just as significant. One movie that has caught my attention specifically is “War for the Planet of the Apes.” This will be the third in the critically acclaimed franchise. In terms of prequels, it’s one of the best. With many franchises, such as “Star Wars,” the prequels generate more hate than revenue. “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” did it right. It’s really underrated and should have been in the spotlight for much longer. “Dawn of the Planet Apes” was also good, but I think the plot was way too fast, and the exposition should have explained and showed more about the events in between movies. The slow pace and build up of the first movie was something that made the film great to me. Another thing that I didn’t like about the second is that James Franco’s character was killed and barely even mentioned. I would have loved to have seen more of him. James Franco can turn any role into a beloved character.  The prequels are all farfetched from the 2001 movie and the multiple film and series versions in the years before that, but it still ties in enough to be interesting. “The War for the Planet of the Apes” will be directed by Matt Reeves, looks just like the second prequel, so it will most likely be focused on battle and dystopia. The trailer for the movie opens up to Caesar and the Orangutan from previous movies riding on horseback on the beach with a mysterious little girl. The trailer includes a narrative from Caesar about how humans started the war and that he offered peace and now they have come to finish his kind off. It then shows scenes of a military of some kind hunting apes and another character that leads that military has his own narrative. He speaks about how all of human history has led to the war with apes and humans created the intelligent apes and nature has been punishing them since. While I’m still skeptical as to whether or not it can live up to the greatness of the first prequel, I’m sure that “War for the Planet of the Apes” will be an exciting and great movie.