Three War For The Planet Of The Apes Scene Descriptions From Fox Showcase

20th Century Fox unveiled about 20 minutes of footage for their upcoming third installment to the Apes franchise: War for the Planet of the Apes.

The film, which takes place years after Rise left off, sees Caesar (Andy Serkis) going to war both literally and internally. The leader of the apes is deeply conflicted. While his ultimate goal is peace, he has been deeply wronged by humans, as have his his family of apes.

In the previous films, Caesar has been the beacon of hope for a connection between the two species. However, that bridge is clearly burnt for War as battles take place left and right.

“As the story escalates, Caesar goes on a mythic journey,” said director Matt Reeves. “Caesar is trying to find a way to restore any sense of peace.”

“At the beginning of the story, Caesar still has empathy for humans…The Colonel and his men respond with true cruelty.”

The 20 minutes of footage was from scenes scattered throughout the film — some of which may be considered spoilers by certain fans. We run through detailed breakdowns of each of the three clips shown at the 20th Century Fox showcase.

Let’s take a look…

Opening Scene

Humans are heard breathing as they march through the woods in combat gear, each with different phrases on the back of their helmets, such as “Monkey killer,” or “Endangered species.” There are about 20-25 of them equipped with guns, knives, and other weapons.

Suddenly, they halt and take cover. They have spotted apes at the top of the hill riding on horseback. Some men take aim with rifles. Suddenly, an ape reaches out to one human’s back, helping, directing his attention to an ape in a tree.

They track a flashing orange light. One man calls to the Colonel, thinking the ape base is near. A couple of apes offer supplies they have ben carrying. The humans take aim and target the ape with the gun first. A soldier uses a crossbow to fire at him before others use rocket launchers to take out a base. Apes are sent flying through the air. Gunfire ensues. An army of apes charges toward the humans. One ape rides off, quickly, with a spear in his hand.

The battle continues as the humans an apes exchange fire over explosions in the woods. The apes are falling as fire and smoke consumes their hideout. The ape who rode away ralles and army on horseback and they charge bck into the battle. It is clearly not finished being rendered at this point. Apes hang from the hideout and fire back but they’re losing. Explosions are taking them down quickly. Some apes supply rockets to the humans but start to notice their struggling species. He’s been branded next to his eye.

The branded ape and the human soldier beside him look up, with the human, as something falls from the sky. It lands, laying down a cover of smoke for the apes to fight back. An array arrows takes out most of the humans. One human manages to escape, narrowly, watching his fellow soldiers go down quickly.

He calls for the Colonel on his radio. The Colonel wants his position. Colonel puts him in command and stops answering. The man realizes he is not going to make it and apologizes. The Colonel orders him to kill as many as he can.

Later, the apes are seen regrouping as the camera journeys through the hideout from Caesar’ perspective. They clear a path for him and show respect by raising their hand for him. They have caught a few soldiers. Caesar evaluates them, looking fierce, about to speak.

Caesar’s Over It

Caesar and three other armed apes ride on horses into a village by the ocean. Caesar checks out a shed on his ow nas the others look around. They come across a man carrying a bundle of sticks who freezes at the sight of them. The man slowly puts down the sticks as not to startle the clearly angered apes but whips out a gun from his hip.

Caesar blasts the man with a shotgun. He shows little remorse. They check the man’s body and see marking on it, suspecting him of being a deserter.

The apes bust into a house and search it. In a back room, they find a child. Caesar doesn’t care about the kid but Maurice stays behind to comfort her as the others continue their search of the house. She tries to speak but can’t which concerns Maurice.

As the apes leave, the child walks outside to see the dead man. Maurice points out that the girl struggles to speak but Caesar is quick to dismiss the thought of bringing her along. However, if they leave the little girl behind, Maurice will stay with her. 

Caesar agrees to bring the girl, as seen in the next shots which show the apes riding their horses across a beach as the sun sets.

Bad Ape

The little girl from the previous clip sits on a black horse as a mysterious jacketed figure creeps towards a white horse and starts digging through the bags hanging from its side. The ape drops something and fears it may have alerted the girl but it doesn’t. He pulls a shotgun from the pack. An ape perched on a tower above them looks down and sees what’s happening, so the others hop on their horses and give chase.

Caesar leads the way as the horses navigate snowy trees and hills in their pursuit. The ape fires back, hitting a tree which almost drops snow on Caesar. The pursuit leads them to the top of a ski lift. The white horse is there but the Bad Ape is gone.

Caesar’s group looks inside the icy snow covered once-vacation destination, guns in hand. They see footprints leading to a dark cave type setup. Guns pointed inside, they approach. Caesar cocks his gun, as do the others, which prompts the Bad Ape to throw their gun and pack back to them before coming out with hits head down. “Bad Ape,” he says. The others use sign language to ask him what he’s doing there but he doesn’t understand. None of the apes recognize him.

“Are you alone here?” Caesar asks.

Bad Ape nods to say, “Yes.”

He offers his jacket to the cold little girl. It’s an acceptable olive branch.

Later, over a campfire and under the cover of night, the apes talk to one another. Bad Ape reveals he has been there for a long time before showing a zoo souvenir from where he used to live, calling it home.

“Human get sick, ape get smart, then human kill ape but not me!” he says.

He learned to speak by listening to humans, which is why he thinks his name is, “Bad Ape.”

He runs off again. The apes discuss the possibility of more apes being alive somewhere. Bad Ape brings them food. He is happy to have new friends. The bag of food comes from a California Border Facility. He found a “human zoo,” he says. Humans killed humans there. “All get sick, all dead now,” Bad Ape says. Caesar asks if the bad humans were soldiers. They were. The apes assume this is where the Colonel was going. Bad Ape does not want to go back despite Caesar’s request. He is scared. He says there is snow and everyone needs rest so they have to stay here. He hands the little girl the name plate of a Nova car.