WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES (Rated PG-13)

The “Planet of the Apes” franchise, which started in 1968 with Charlton Heston as an astronaut landing on a strange planet where apes ranked higher than humans on the evolutionary scale, has spawned numerous sequels over the years.

One could easily say that “Planet of the Apes” is to science-fiction films what the “James Bond” franchise has been to action pictures over the many decades since the 1960s, namely too many sequels to count and name even in a trivia contest.

And yet, one has to wonder how Charlton Heston’s space explorer George Taylor would react to the current iteration of the “Planet of the Apes” trilogy that started with “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” in 2011 and has now culminated with “War for the Planet of the Apes.”

In the current trilogy, with the final chapter directed by Matt Reeves, who performed the same duties for “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” the most sympathetic character is Caesar (Andy Serkis), the chimpanzee who acquired human intelligence and speech abilities from experimental drugs in the first film.

Indeed, Heston’s astronaut, who expressed his disgust for being manhandled by simians, would be aghast at the turn of events weighing heavily against the remaining humans. Yet, it all makes sense in the grand scheme put forth by director Reeves.

The first word in the title of the final installment informs the nature of the story to unfold. The opening scene involves human soldiers tracking apes in a densely-wooded forest where the helmets are stenciled with “Bedtime for Bonzo” and “Monkey Killer,” among other things.

“War for the Planet of the Apes” has several themes that run throughout, from Western revenge to a prison break thriller, but the most prominent might be an allegory to the Vietnam War, with a strong nod to “Apocalypse Now.”

The reference to Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece wartime movie is unmistakable when Caesar and his trusted allies go up against the completely unhinged Colonel (Woody Harrelson) who fashions himself as a latter-day Kurtz, complete with the shaved bald head.

Unlike his brutal simian rival Koba (Toby Kebbell), who wanted to practice genocide on the remaining humans, Caesar took the more peaceful view that he could happily hide in the jungle to avoid any military confrontations.

Regrettably, as one of the few apes with the ability to speak proficient English, Caesar is Public Enemy No. 1 in the eyes of the deranged Colonel who sees the ape leader as an existential threat to the well-being of mankind.

As a result, the Colonel’s forces hunt down Caesar to his lair, eventually killing all but one of his family members.

This cruel act engenders not just a war footing for the apes but triggers the type of vengeance that so often guides the theme of a Western adventure.

Joined by a small band of trusted cohorts, including the wise orangutan Maurice (Karin Konoval) and right-hand man Rocket (Terry Notary), Caesar’s expedition to locate the Colonel’s fortified hideaway leads to some unusual discoveries.

As already established previously, a potent virus, commonly referred to as the simian flu, has decimated the human population or at least rendered a few surviving members of the species to a reversionary primitive state.

Some humans have been robbed of the ability to speak, and it is these surviving people who are also targeted for extinction by the Colonel.

Caesar finds and befriends a young mute girl they name Nova (Amiah Miller), a victim of the virus who has been orphaned.

Exhibiting the type of compassion that eludes the Colonel, Caesar is unable to abandon the young girl to a deadly fate, and so she comes along in Caesar’s trek as a reminder that humanity might extend beyond just the grasp of the evolved homo sapiens.

Also joining Caesar’s expeditionary force during the long trek through snow, wooded forests and even a seaside journey is the quixotic figure of Bad Ape (Steve Zahn), a former zoo inmate who lightens the dark themes with his ability to deliver funny dialogue.

Arriving at the Colonel’s base camp is a painful reminder that brutality has become a staple for the few humans left standing. The Colonel, in essence, runs a concentration camp populated by simian prisoners required to do hard manual labor.

With Caesar masterminding a prison break, the film takes a page right out of “The Great Escape” playbook. And the Colonel has to face the consequence that his simian foe is a charismatic, resourceful enemy who motivates his species to fight back.

The bottom line is that this action film is a technical marvel. Andy Serkis is absolutely mesmerizing in his motion-capture rendering of the magnetic Caesar, a creature so life-like that his performance is nothing short of brilliant.

From the excellent storytelling to the stunning visuals of desolate, forbidding landscapes, “War for the Planet of the Apes” works on several levels. Most importantly, the climactic battle scene is anything but ordinary in its delivery of the action goods.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.