War for the Planet of the Apes trailer: Man vs ape conflict turns into a 'do or die' combat

The theatrical trailer of War for the Planet of the Apes takes the narrative forward from where the prequel, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, had left it.

The man vs wild conflict seems to escalate in this one as it’s no longer a minor scuffle or a one-off battle. It is a war. A war for supremacy, survival and evolution. The trailer narrates the story of both the sides through narrations of the leaders of the apes and the humans respectively. It seems like we are the jury as both sides explain their stories.

But do we really want to resolve their conflict? No. We want war, weapons, destruction and bloodshed, because just like the humans in the movie, we are not exactly the peace-loving people we are projected to be. It is extremely difficult for humans to make peace with the fact that apes and humans can co-exist without any conflict. They constantly see the apes as a threat to civilization and roadblocks of evolution, and hence, want to neutralise them at once. On the other hand, the apes are retaliating with all their might and mercilessness.

The apes are led by Caesar, played by Andy Serkis, and the humans are led by a colonel, played by Woody Harrelson. What is interesting in the trailer is the presence of a little girl who stands by the apes’ side. Her hopeful face often shows signs of fear which makes one wonder whether she has aligned herself with the apes by choice or by force. We do know, thanks to Tarzan and Mogli, that the apes have a soft corner for the child as it is the closest that comes to the apes in terms of evolutionary proximity.

War for the Planet of the Apes is the third installment of the Planet of the Apes franchise. It is directed by Matt Reeves and is slated to release on 14 July, 2017.