Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes review

KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES: 

SOLID FOURTH INSTALLMENT DOESN’T QUITE LIVE UP TO CAESAR’S LEGACY! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

20^TH CENTURY STUDIOS

Noa the Ape in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

 

A new era of “Ape” has begun in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, the latest installment of the long-running Planet of the Apes film series and continuation of the 2011 reboot trilogy that saw Andy Serkis and groundbreaking motion-capture CGI bring Caesar the Ape to life. This recent trilogy of movies consisting of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and War for the Planet of the Apes did the unthinkable, resurrect the Planet of the Apes franchise after various disappointing entries (Most infamously the Tim Burton re-imagining from 2001) and took the series back in time to show the events leading up to the apes ruling the world. 

It's honestly one of the best trilogies over the past 13 years with incredible CGI effects that still hold up extremely well today, endearing characters, and brilliant and mature storylines about the survival of humans and apes with heavy subject matter and hard-hitting drama that ended on a perfect note. Now, seven years after the release of War for the Planet of the Apes comes the fourth installment of this series of Planet of the Apes movies following a new group of apes and in the director’s chair this time is Wes Ball (Maze Runner trilogy). 

I wasn’t exactly hyped for this movie, not because it looked bad or anything but because War for the Planet of the Apes was such a perfect ending to this series of Planet of the Apes films that I didn’t really need a continuation of it. But I was still open to it and even if it paled in comparison to the other films, it’d probably still be an absolute spectacle on the big screen. 

Well, I’m happy to say that Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is a good continuation of a great series of Planet of the Apes movies. It is easily the weakest of the new films, but there is still a lot in here that’s really impressive both on a technical and storytelling level. 

The film is set 300 years after Caesar’s death and apes have now become the dominant species on the planet while humans live in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader known as Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand-X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Noah, Abigail) builds an empire in the name of Caesar, a young chimpanzee hunter named Noa (Owen Teague-Bloodline, The Stand, The Empty Man) undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he knows about the past and make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike. 

The film also stars Peter Macon (Turok: Son of Stone, The Orville, Family Guy) as Raka, Sara Wiseman (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, A Place to Call Home, Rake) as Dar, Neil Sandilands (The Flash, Sweet Tooth, News of the World) as Koro, Eka Darville (The Originals, Jessica Jones, The Defenders) as Sylva, Freya Allan (The Witcher, Into the Badlands, Gunpowder Milkshake) as Mae, William H. Macy (Boogie Nights, Thank You for Smoking, The Lincoln Lawyer) as Trevathan, and Dichen Lachman (Neighbours, Raya and the Last Dragon, Jurassic World: Dominion) as Korina. 

Overall, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes pales in comparison to its predecessors and lacks much of the emotional weight or bold themes of Caesar’s trilogy, but it’s still a well-made continuation with breathtaking CGI, compelling characters, and a story that keeps your interest all the way through. Having a character that’s just as enthralling as Caesar from the earlier films is no easy task, but Noa manages to fill those shoes very well and is very endearing throughout and despite being an ape, is surprisingly relatable as a protagonist with him embarking on a hero’s journey to rescue his clan. 

I also thought Proximus Caesar was a menacing and realistic antagonist portrayed brilliantly by Kevin Durand who is essentially an ape version of a religious cult leader that manipulates his followers into doing what he wants by twisting Caesar’s teachings from the earlier movies. It’s the same way a corrupt Christian group leader would recite passages from The Bible as a way to spread hatred, bigotry, and violence for the sake of Jesus. 

Much like War for the Planet of the Apes, there’s not that many human characters that we follow during the journey with the focus only being on two and in this film’s case it’s Freya Allan as Mae and William H. Macy as Trevathan who the latter is introduced like an hour and a half into the movie and disposed of pretty quickly. I don’t think Freya Allan’s Mae is quite as captivating as Nova from War, but she does have some likable chemistry with Noa and Raka and a few “Can she be trusted?” moments during the film. 

I was invested in the story and seeing where it was going, but there are times where the movie feels unsure of which plot it wants to tell and how to balance it out. The previous movies told very human stories through the perspective of the apes and that is mostly the case here, but when it shifts focus over to the humans it’s not quite as interesting as what the apes are doing and at times slows the movie down. 

It isn’t like the Legendary MonsterVerse or the human characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog movies as there’s only some small moments devoted to them. But I’ll take James Franco, Jason Clarke, or the girl who communicates via sign language from War anytime for strong human characters in Apes movies. 

I’m sure I already went into how amazing the CGI is in my reviews of the other Planet of the Apes movies and the same thing applies here. The effects team and animators deserve all the praise they can get for seamlessly bringing these motion-capture apes to life to the point where you’re not looking at computer-animated characters on the screen, you’re looking at real apes with all the details and depth put into these characters, films like this and The Creator really showcase just how far CGI has come over the years and examples of modern CGI done right. 

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes may be a step backwards from earlier entries, but it’s still an expertly-crafted continuation of the Planet of the Apes storyline that I’m totally down to see more of in the near future. If the films are able to gain momentum and expand the story even further, I think we could potentially get a new trilogy that can rival the 2011 reboot series. 

Swing on in and enjoy the ape spectacle.