War movies tend to highlight man’s inhumanity to man, but what about man’s inhumanity to ape? On Tuesday, Fox released the final trailer for War for the Planet of the Apes, the third installment of the modern iteration of the primary primate franchise. The adrenaline-pumping spot shows just how brutal the snowy conflict between the two species is going to get. And, yes, there are a lot of talking apes.
The trailer opens with Caesar taking a stray human girl into his tribe, telling any dissenters that “we’re not savages.” According to Entertainment Weekly, the girl is supposed to be Nova, the mute woman that Charlton Heston encountered in the 1968 film. This make absolutely no sense if we’re going by the original timeline, but it’s a nice little nod to the series’ past.
From there, we see Woody Harrelson, the leader of the remaining militarized humans, preparing for battle and explaining the differences between apes and men. Curiously, there seems to be a gorilla on the humans’ side, helping to load a machine gun. He has what appears to be some sort of tattoo on his forehead, so perhaps he’s been altered to maintain his loyalty. Or, maybe he’s an ape Benedict Arnold.
A gorilla on the humans' side in 'War for the Planet of the Apes'
“I did not start this war,” Caesar says. (Yes, all the apes are straight-up speaking English by this point. Luckily, the series has earned the right for this not to be corny.) “But I … will … finish it,” he growls.
War for the Planet of the Apes hits theaters on July 14.
