Andy Serkis’s superb performance and Matt Reeves’s heartfelt direction means that for once, humans will root against their own species.

A grim and sombre tone hangs over War of the Planet of the Apes, in which the conflict that began in Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) comes to a conclusion. The first film sowed the seeds for the ape-human conflict with an Alzheimer’s cure that went wrong. In Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), which is situated 10 years later, much of the human population had been wiped out by a simian flu, and there was the realisation that the conflict could not be resolved without an all-out war.

Sympathy for Caesar and his band of simians is set up early into the third film. Fifteen years into the ongoing conflict, the soldiers walk through a forest with lines such as “Monkey Killer” and “Bedtime for Bonzo” emblazoned across their helmets and satchels. They are ruthless and cold-blooded, choosing to employ apes (whom they call “Donkeys”) to help them in the battle against their own species.

By contrast, Caesar is restrained. He has learned much from observing the treachery of humans and attempts to try and not fall into the same pattern. His apes only want…

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