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War for the Planet of the Apes poster

Movies that feel likeWar for the Planet of the Apes (2017)

Caesar and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel. After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. As the journey finally brings them face to face, Caesar and the Colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both their species and the future of the planet.

If you loved War for the Planet of the Apes, the closest films we have are A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Cloud Atlas (2012) and Looper (2012). All three share War for the Planet of the Apes' cerebral and bleak feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Advantageous (2015).

🍅 94% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.4 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Matt Reevescontemplativecerebralbleakmelancholy
11 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Paramount Plus Premium

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If War for the Planet of the Apes hit the spot, these will too

Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) · Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) · Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)

A.I. Artificial Intelligence poster
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
2001 · dir. Steven Spielberg
🍅 76%★ 7.2drama · science fiction · adventureParamount+Peacock

The same preoccupation in both: dystopia

The difference: Played as adventure first

David, a robotic boy—the first of his kind programmed to love—is adopted as a test case by a Cybertronics employee and his wife. Though he gradually becomes their child, a series of unexpected circumstances make this life impossible for David.

Cloud Atlas poster
Cloud Atlas
2012 · dir. Lilly Wachowski
🍅 65%★ 7.3drama · science fiction

Civilizations rising and falling on cruelty and solidarity

The difference: Six interwoven stories — grand but unwieldy

A set of six nested stories spanning time between the 19th century and a distant post-apocalyptic future. Cloud Atlas explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact one another throughout the past, the present and the future. Action, mystery and romance weave through the story as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero and a single act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution in the distant future. Based on the award winning novel by David Mitchell. Directed by Tom Tykwer and the Wachowskis.

Looper poster
Looper
2012 · dir. Rian Johnson
🍅 93%★ 7.4action · thriller · science fictionStarz

One thread runs through both: suicide

The difference: Less contemplative, more its own thing

In the year 2044, time travel has not yet been invented but in 30 years it will have been. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target into the past where a looper, a hired gun, like Joe is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good until the day the mob decides to close the loop, sending back Joe's future self for assassination.

Advantageous poster
Advantageous
2015 · dir. Jennifer Phang
🍅 87%★ 6science fiction · drama

Quiet sci-fi about sacrificing yourself for the next generation

The difference: Tiny indie scale — ideas carry it, not spectacle

In a near-future city where soaring opulence overshadows economic hardship, Gwen and her daughter, Jules, do all they can to hold on to their joy, despite the instability surfacing in their world.

Valkyrie poster
Valkyrie
2008 · dir. Bryan Singer
🍅 62%★ 7.1drama · thriller · warPrime Video

Both keep coming back to the same thing: suicide

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

Wounded in Africa during World War II, Nazi Col. Claus von Stauffenberg returns to his native Germany and joins the Resistance in a daring plan to create a shadow government and assassinate Adolf Hitler. When events unfold so that he becomes a central player, he finds himself tasked with both leading the coup and personally killing the Führer.

Full Metal Jacket poster
Full Metal Jacket
1987 · dir. Stanley Kubrick
🍅 89%★ 8.2drama · warMax

Contemplative and bleak in the same breath

The difference: Lighter on ideas

A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the U.S.-Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.

Gattaca poster
Gattaca
1997 · dir. Andrew Niccol
🍅 82%★ 7.7science fiction · drama

Common ground: dystopia

The difference: 20 years apart, and the 1990s show

Vincent is an all-too-human man who dares to defy a system obsessed with genetic perfection. He is an "In-Valid" who assumes the identity of a member of the genetic elite to pursue his goal of traveling into space with the Gattaca Aerospace Corporation.

Brothers poster
Brothers
2009 · dir. Jim Sheridan
🍅 63%★ 7.1drama · thriller · warPrime Video

Melancholy drama, and it commits to that

The difference: Leans further into thriller

When his helicopter goes down during his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan, Marine Sam Cahill is presumed dead. Back home, brother Tommy steps in to look over Sam’s wife, Grace, and two children. Sam’s surprise homecoming triggers domestic mayhem.

Snowpiercer poster
Snowpiercer
2013 · dir. Bong Joon Ho
🍅 94%★ 7.1action · science fiction · drama

A frozen world where oppression finally breeds revolt

The difference: Pulpy and stylized — allegory over sober gravity

In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet, a class system evolves aboard the Snowpiercer; a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine.

The Last Samurai poster
The Last Samurai
2003 · dir. Edward Zwick
🍅 65%★ 7.8drama · action · warMax

Contemplative war in both cases

Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.

Contagion poster
Contagion
2011 · dir. Steven Soderbergh
🍅 85%★ 6.8drama · thriller · science fictionMax

Both are built on the same subject: mutation

As an epidemic of a lethal airborne virus - that kills within days - rapidly grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself.

Ghost in the Shell poster
Ghost in the Shell
2017 · dir. Rupert Sanders
🍅 42%★ 6.3science fiction · drama · actionParamount+

A being caught between what it was made for and what it is

The difference: Glossy cyberpunk surfaces — the soul goes missing

In the near future, Major is the first of her kind: a human saved from a terrible crash, then cyber-enhanced to be a perfect soldier devoted to stopping the world's most dangerous criminals.

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The best-reviewed films that share War for the Planet of the Apes’ defining feeling.