MovieChat Forums > War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) Discussion > dumb shit in the script...

dumb shit in the script...

posted 7 years ago by HAL 9010 (903)
20 replies | jump to latest

Wauuu I am disappointed in Matt Reeves. And this dude got the helm of The Batman. Yikess....

List of dumb things that should have been reconsidered in the script:

[SPOILERS]
[PLEASE ADD IF YOU HAVE MORE]

* Guard locks himself (with keys to their shackles) in an enclosure of angry apes to do something he easily could do from outside the enclosure in safety

* The Colonel goes himself to the Apes lair in his second attack on them, because???

* The Men goes back and captures all the apes in their third attack, to build a wall against helicopters…. and from an army which is likely just a couple of days away. Sure Woody, that is worth the trouble and risk indeed. Not.

* The Men who just got their asses kicked by the Apes goes back to the Apes lair, while really their attention is on a coming army of attacking men, and yet they deem it is necessary to attack and capture apes for construction work.

* Girl's dad (or protector or liberator) is killed and cares less about it. And a day later she cries her eyes out over the death of an ape who gave her one flower that morning... and who also helped kill her dad the day before btw.

* 100% of the winning army storms the exploding fortress of The Colonel (did we learn nothing from Batman Rises??)

* 100% of the wining and well equipped army got wiped out in an avalanche… yep, this happened. No, really.

* Caesar travels with his people across a great distance to never attend his wound from the arrow and dies because of it

* No ape sees that Caesar is bloody and fatally wounded in their travels. Guessing he is no hugger

* The virus takes humans ability to speak away…. Yes, fair enough. But come on, it should make them gradually dumber or similar. The speech effect which apparently happened within the blink of an eye (not gradually), is..... show us to de-evolutionize in a more credible way, just saying.

* Soldier man who was spared by the hero and who the movie shows us is conflicted through the whole story is given the perfect moment to show mercy, and is then blown away by a redeeming Ape who was a dick the whole time.

* The Ape who was a dick the whole time is having a change of heart while he stands next to a giant machine gun, and who notices a leaking gas tank that can end the bad men in one blow…. And then decides to stop one solider in his track with one grenade (next rewrite of the script should have him overpower the machine gun and go nuts until taken out…)

* Was NOT about a War for the planet of the Apes. Was about cheap construction work, while someone else is fighting a over some evil lair. In fact this conflict seemed to have very little to do with Apes at all.

* The plot was a revenge story that puts our hero in the middle of a a conflict situation, he has little to no biff in and from which he escapes in the end.... this is the story. The conclusion to the Trilogi. Nothing wrong with that, but hardly epic. The apes part in this chapter was reduced to bystanders.

CONCLUSION: Matt Reeves, whoever you are or whatever you are… a skilled story teller you are not.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

you don't really like movies do you ??

[–] HAL 9010 (903) 7 years ago

I luv em. Not least this franchise, which perhaps is the deeper reason for my post. Anyway, always fun to pick at them, I think. For good and bad.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

[deleted]

[–] HAL 9010 (903) 7 years ago

Yes, this is another good one not really explored. Why were the forest not good? Seemed ideal in my view and even in Caesar's view too, if I recall correctly from the previous one. However, in this one they were harassed by the humans and so had to move somewhere (at least at that point in the story).... and the place they finally found seemed not too bad - in a resort kind of way, and at least far away from where any potential humans were... so perhaps acceptable? Anyway, I thunk much lack in this story... a bit of creative work and clever thinking could have fixed it.

[–] Aafox90 (37) 7 years ago

Also, if I may.... It's not a trilogy.... There are five originals.... So we have at the very least, one more to sit through.....

Being an absolute fans of the originals and then the Mark Wahlburg revision, and then the first of this remake set (which was beautifully made) ......I did love the way they set it up with Cornilieus and bridging that for the next, the dessert was ridiculous, that needed a smoother bridge but necessary none the less. And the rest was basically hogwash. I felt it was a filler movie......which it basically was. Hopefully the next will fly ahead in time and be the Original remake.

[–] HAL 9010 (903) 7 years ago

Hmm not sure we can deduce this. Or do you have this from good authority? Yes the original was in 5 movies, but these new take are prequels to the original series, and so does not try in anyway to mirror the originals, imo. I actually think it ended quite nice here as a set up for the first "Planet Of The Apes (1968").... and I need no more.

That being said, it did quite good and money talks. Though I am not sure we need more telling of this story for now. Of course if they could retell the original as you propose, then surely I will be found on the front line. I am though not sure how this could be done to this day... they story worked part because it was 1968, I dare say?

[–] eisbock (39) 7 years ago

* Soldier man who was spared by the hero and who the movie shows us is conflicted through the whole story is given the perfect moment to show mercy, and is then blown away by a redeeming Ape who was a dick the whole time.

Completely agree. The movie spent a lot of time building up the soldier to come through and have a change of heart at the end to make a difference. Every shot showed him conflicted and hesitant in nearly everything he did. In fact, the foreshadowing was a little too over the top at times. It's like, how many times can you show the internal struggle this man faces before culmination?

And then they just blew him to smithereens. I'll be honest, it caught me off guard and I'm all for surprise and unorthodox twists, but that was just plain stupid. It rendered the rest of his screen time pointless and irrelevant.

I'm also in agreement with everything else you said, but this one point sent me over the edge. Idiotic.

And the fact that the virus will eventually render all humans useless, coupled with the deus ex machina avalanche doubly insures that the humans will not be a threat to the apes in the future. This made the entire movie seem pointless and like it was for nothing. There was no resolution; just luck, and nothing the apes did had any bearing on the story in the end.

[–] HAL 9010 (903) 7 years ago

You are right, the story told is essentially pointless in the saga. Or could be explained in just one line: "Apes escapes the forrest to leave behind last remaining men to their own internal fighting".

I remember an interview where Matt Reeves says that he did not think about if those Apes were the only ones changing, or if it happened all over the world, until some girl had asked him this question. And for this reason they added an outside Ape, aka "Bad Ape" to show this..... Think about this for a moment. How can a story teller not think it through if it is a local or global event? I get the feeling that this movie with the virus degenerating humans, bad ape, avalanche etc. is just put in because,,,, "hey, we forgot to think about this".

It seem a bit like the pitch for the film was essentially; "we will make the Aps look concerned a lot... so we can really relate to them. This has never been done. Can we please make a movie?"

That being said, kudos to whoever made the trailer, movie poster and thought up the movie title... this dude or dudess knew what would be a cool story.

[–] JudgeDredd (125) 7 years ago

Agreed, terrible writing, directing is more average than spectacular. Little to no plot.....

Too many shots of apes and people starring at each other for just dramatic effect, insteadt it's a waste of time.

Not better than the first 2.

Go back to 1968 that was great.

[–] AtomicReturns (1252) 7 years ago

Some of these are funny (and yes, I agree with a lot of them).

I thought this was the weakest one of the trilogy. Mightily disappointed too, because I had hopes Matt Reeves would improve upon the already excellent Dawn. Now I'm actually having some doubts about The Batman, because there's a lot of sloppy in War For the Planet of the Apes. It's a technically well-made movie with great scenes and a couple powerful moments, but many story strands end in such an unsatisfying way.

[–] BruceBanner (58) 7 years ago

I thought the large apes on horseback was a little daft, wouldn't their sheer weight wreck the horse?

[–] HAL 9010 (903) 7 years ago

Well, at least this is in line with the original.

Google tells me a gorilla weigh 160kg ( 350 pounds). I think a strong horse can manage it.

[–] xfool (922) 6 years ago

* The Colonel goes himself to the Apes lair in his second attack on them, because???
Hes insane thats why lol.

To add on:

*the little girl casually walks in base stay for quite a long time with no guards noticing her at all?

*whole base only have one guard on duty at night even though they are expecting an attack, none saw any of the escaping apes until they were under attack.

*no food and water for apes , how do you expect them to work?

*huge fuel tanks conveniently place near the front of the base that can be blown up to kill literally all the soldiers on the wall.

*crazy Colonel have so many followers willing to fight for him against the superior northern forces really?