Apes battle humans in the epic trailer for 'War for the Planet of the Apes'

In a time where the idea of the "Forever Franchise" (a term coined by Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy when discussing the longevity of the Star Wars series) is becoming an increasingly possible reality with each passing year, there's something distinctly satisfying about a series tying up the loose ends and closing things out. That's one of the main reasons why Logan worked so damn well- its definitive nature gave a sense of weight and importance to the proceedings. The same can be said for Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, Peter Jackson's Return of the King, and David Yates' Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, but the truth of the matter is that the so-called "series finale" is a true rarity in modern Hollywood. With that in mind, it's safe to say that Matt Reeves' War for the Planet of the Apes is one of my most anticipated films of the year. Yes, I'm sure Fox can make more Apes films if they want to do so. However, this certainly looks like it will close out the saga of Caesar and lead us directly into the events of the 1968 classic. Reeves brought a sense of dystopian terror to the previous installment, and this time, I'm hoping that he can really deliver a killer blockbuster without the constraints of making the middle film in a trilogy. Yesterday, Fox released the second official trailer for the film- check it out below!

As I've noted multiple times while discussing this film, I wasn't the biggest fan of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Matt Reeves brought a chilly, frightening feel to the film, but it felt like an incomplete part of a larger story. There was lots to love, but it just barely fell short of masterpiece status. With that in mind, I think it says a lot that I couldn't be more excited for War for the Planet of the Apes. Long title aside, this looks like it could very well be one of the summer's best blockbusters. Seriously, I can't believe we'll be getting this, Baby Driver, Dunkirk, and Atomic Blonde in the span of a month. War somehow looks even more grim and violent than Dawn, so brutal and so dark that I have a feeling Reeves is going to push to the boundaries of the PG-13 rating just like Christopher Nolan did with The Dark Knight. The large-scale action looks astounding, the motion-capture work on Andy Serkis' Caesar continues to grow more and more impressive, and I love the way that they call back on the previous installments in this trailer to give a sense of finality to the proceedings. Hell, I even adore the idea of a traitor ape fighting for the humans. This trailer is nothing short of epic, and if I'm being honest, it's the Apes movie that I've been waiting for since Rise shocked us all in 2011. If Matt Reeves can bring this same sense of brilliant dramatic style to The Batman, we're in for one hell of a film.

War for the Planet of the Apes opens on July 14.

Image courtesy of 20th Century Fox