Five Things in "War for the Planet of the Apes" that everyone just ignored

(Originally published on September 22, 2017)

Warning: this article contains spoilers for the film "War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)."

The rebooted “Planet of the Apes” trilogy has thrived as cinematic films, putting a new spin on the original film starring Charlton Heston. Starting with “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” this new series shows that a deadly virus is responsible for the apes becoming the dominant species on Earth, not evolution. But the third and possibly final installment in this film franchise has made its fair share of mistakes and missing plot points.

So before the third installment comes out on Blu-Ray and DVD, here are five things in "War for the Planet of the Apes" that everyone just ignored.

1) Dormant mutation

In “War for the Planet of the Apes,” a major plot is that the virus dubbed Simian Flu has now mutated, causing the immune humans to become mute and de-evolve into dumb brutes. This is the filmmakers’ attempt to explain why Charlton Heston’s character finds that all humans can’t speak in a future Earth ruled by apes.

The problem with this development is that fifteen years have past since the virus was released, and viruses (at least in movies) mutate over a relatively short period of time. It’s the reason why Captain Chandler and his crew on TNT’s “The Last Ship” have trouble finding a cure for a virus that has wiped out most of humanity because that virus mutated over a period of a few months after the initial outbreak.

Did the filmmakers for “Apes” really expect us to believe that the Simian Flu virus just decided not to mutate for years until it was convenient for the story? And wouldn't the humans in "Dawn for the Planet of the Apes" have noticed other people suddenly not being able to speak anymore for no apparent reason?

2) Unexplained capture

Shortly after Caesar (Andy Serkis) arrives at the Colonel's (Woody Harrelson) base, he realizes that his entire ape group has been captured, including his youngest son. But how did that happen? Caesar and company were tracking the Colonel’s forces heading northwards, and the apes were traveling southeast (though it's not explained in the film which direction they’re going) to a desert land Exodus-style. Did the Colonel decide to make a complete U-turn and stop preparing his base's defenses just to capture apes heading in the opposite direction? All while knowing that the real U.S. Army remnants were going to attack him up north?

3) I'm gonna build a wall

At his base, the Colonel keeps the apes alive so that he can use them as slave labor to build a wall around his base's entrance in order to prepare for an attack by the American military. It's surely no coincidence that the filmmakers made this theme in response to the election of President Donald Trump in 2016. One of Trump's campaign promises was to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican Border. Did the filmmakers wish to send a political statement against the border wall and the Trump Administration? Who knows, but the connection is still there.

4) Unredeemable humans

Speaking of soldiers, most of the human soldiers are portrayed as aggressors. At least they are in the Colonel’s army. Even the few individuals who might have a change of heart and get along with the apes are killed off before they're given a chance to.

The reason why "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" was a great hit was because it had both relatable human and ape characters and a realistic story to follow. The only real bad guy in that movie was the single evil ape who's clearly motivated by revenge and hatred of humans. Even Gary Oldman's character isn't a secondary villain: he's just a guy trying to keep his people safe against the apes. That kind of good and strong character development is lacking in “War for the Planet of the Apes” when it comes to the humans as a whole. The filmmakers don't help their cause by having all the American soldiers supposedly die in an avalanche at the film's climax, thereby leaving viewers with an anti-military, anti-soldier message.

And speaking of that avalanche . . .

5) Delayed avalanche equals messed up weather forecast

At the end of the film, a giant avalanche tumbles down the mountain, trapping all the human soldiers under it. There's just one problem: the avalanche doesn't start immediately after the main explosion when the base was destroyed.

Anyone who's ever witnessed an avalanche before or watched one of those avalanche movies knows that avalanches happen immediately after any high sound. And even if there was a delayed response, it’s clear to regular individuals that too much time elapsed between the explosion and the avalanche in the film. “The Adventures in Odyssey” TV series episode "Escape from Avalanche Canyon” featured several avalanches coming immediately right after someone yells or sneezes. Come on, Apes, get that right.

Maybe the filmmakers could have used some of their movie budget to hire a weather expert or something.