Has anyone ever expected a prequel to be successful, especially when it's one to Planet of the Apes? That answer would definitely lean towards a big NO. The world has taken by surprise when Rise of the Planet of the Apes was released in theaters in 2011 to critical and commercial success. The Rupert Wyatt-directed movie contained amazing development towards lead character Caesar, breathtaking visual effects and phenomenal motion-capture work from veteran Andy Serkis. It sparked a huge interest in this new take on the lineage of Planet of the Apes's storyline and an excitement grew when the outstanding sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was released in July 2014 under the direction of Cloverfield's Matt Reeves. It managed to further along the development and progression of Caesar and his fellow ape comrades, as well as give us an incredible villain in Koba, played in a haunting fashion by Toby Kebbell. So naturally, War for the Planet of the Apes was one of my most anticipated movies of 2017 and with Reeves returning to the director's chair, the hype couldn't have been more obvious.

Set two years after the events of Dawn, Caesar is facing his biggest battle yet and it is one that even he didn't expect. After a group of soldiers, led by Colonel McCullough (Woody Harrelson), start terrorizing the apes and causing a few of them to go rogue, Caesar begins a quest to avenge his kind from killing their own. As all of that is occurring, he begins to battle his inner demons and question his side as to whether he's a good ape or a bad ape. What makes War the potential best of the trilogy is that, in its core, this is a drama and more of a character study than the previous two installments. It's going to turn a lot of people off, as they are expecting many war sequences as the word is applied in the movie's title. I firmly believe this rebooted Planet of the Apes trilogy is the best trilogy of modern cinema and it's on the levels of trilogies such as Lord of the Rings, Toy Story and the original Star Wars trilogy. It was vastly unexpected that a prequel series would end up spawning three of the decade's best blockbusters.

Without question, Andy Serkis is euphorically fantastic in his third outing as Caesar and his performance should definitely not be overlooked. He is the king of motion capture work and the performance is heartbreaking, as we see Caesar in ways that we had not seen before and if I were president of The Academy, I would nominate Serkis in a heartbeat. The animators also deserve major credit, as the apes look more realistic then ever before and it is awe-inspiring that these are all actors and not actual apes. Serkis continues to shine in the mo-cap world, but Caesar might just be his best character, potentially topping Gollum. Woody Harrelson's antagonist is a terrific addition to the rebooted Apes franchise and having layers similar to a recent blockbuster villain in Michael Keaton from Spider-Man: Homecoming. The biggest surprise of War for the Planet of the Apes was Steve Zahn's performance as Bad Ape, as it could've been a massive downgrade for the movie. He provided just the right amount of comedy and it was very subtle that made it flow well with the dramatic elements being depicted.

The visual effects and motion-capture work in War are some of the best I have seen in any motion picture my eyes have laid on during the span of my 19 years on Earth. With the evolution of motion-capture in cinema, the look of each and every ape is as realistic as they were in the previous two installments of the Apes prequel series. There have been numerous early contenders for the Best Visual Effects category for the upcoming Academy Awards ceremony and this is already the best of the year. It would be very interesting to see what can top the effects in War for the Planet of the Apes and let's not ignore the haunting score from Oscar-winner Michael Giacchino, as his music gives the audience a sense of horror that feels as terrifying as anything heard from any war film of recent memory. For continuing to show her range as a composer, it is insane that Giacchino has gone from Lost to Up (which he picked up an Oscar for in 2010) and now War for the Planet of the Apes, where it ranks high up in his list of best scores.

A lot of people have been clamoring about the film's slow-burn by calling it tiresome and bland, but it makes the emotional tension feel as real as expected in a blockbuster. The stakes are higher and if the film had a quick pace, it would've ruined the way that War was meant to be depicted as the definitive conclusion to Caesar's storyline. This is one of the best blockbusters of the decade and the best conclusion of a trilogy since Toy Story 3. With elements of Return of the King and Apocalypse Now, War for the Planet of the Apes is as gritty and heart-pounding as thought and thanks to the beautiful craft of Matt Reeves, everything feels fresh and coherent when the credits began to roll. It is one of the year's best films and could we see a lot of Oscar buzz around this? That can't be said yet, but I wouldn't ignore this one come awards season.