Film Review: Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes

It’s quite astonishing that when you look back at it, the Planet Of The Apes films has among the best hit-to-miss ratio compared to most other franchises out there. It’s up there with Evil Dead and Mad Max, and it’s arguably more impressive given not only the longevity of the film series, dating back to the 1968 film, but also the fact that these films have almost consistently geared their storytelling towards more mature and thought-provoking, idea-driven narratives as opposed the usual excessive bombast of your standard Hollywood tentpole. It’s been a lasting tradition from that original film to the original sequels to the recent trilogy and now this latest.

Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes – what a mouthful – takes places at least a few hundred years after the events of the previous trilogy following Caesar. Our lead is Noa (Owen Teague), a young chimp coming into his own as he lives in a peaceful commune with his family where they raise and train eagles. But one night, following an encounter with a human, Noa finds his village being burned to the ground as a group of apes captures everyone. Noa’s father is killed during this and he wakes up determined to find the rest of his family and bring them back home.

In his travels, he comes across Raka (Peter Macon), an orangutan who has more knowledge of the history of the apes, and a follower of Caesar’s teachings, which have been bastardizes by the group that attacked Noa’s village. But the two aren’t alone as they discover the human who has been watching them, a woman named Mae (Freya Allan), who initially acted mute, which is expected, before revealing herself to be much smarter than most of the remaining humans who have devolved into more animalistic creatures. She knows where the group of apes took Noa’s family, to a settlement near an old bunker, where they are led by the sinister Proximus (Kevin Durand).

It essentially takes the formula of something like Apocalypto, where our hero is ripped from his home and taken into an unfamiliar place led by a cruel leader, and he has use his wits and skills to survive. The stakes are clearly set, where Proximus wants to get the metal doors to the bunker opened so he can access whatever may be inside that he feels will enhance and evolve the apes even further. The film doesn’t overdo the narrative with world-ending threats. After all, that part of the overarching narrative is technically already done. It’s ultimately more character focused as all these other movies have been, and it’s all the better for it.

I didn’t necessarily loved any of the films in the prior Caesar trilogy, but I did admire them quite a bit for at least going to the places they went, and taking a more complex and character driven approach when it could have aimed for something simpler and more crowd-pleasing. This very much continues that, giving various characters their own motivations for choosing to do what they do, without passing judgment on them. I also found it interesting to see a character like Proximus, who feels like stand-in for many modern fascist figures, many of whom evoke older ideas and people, twisting them to suit their needs, and stomping on anyone who tries to get in their way.

On a technical level, the film is incredibly well made. The effects from various vendors including Wētā FX is astounding and richly detailed, and made all the more effective through clear on-location shooting, which adds such a tactile quality to the environments and the characters that inhabit them. I really admired Wes Ball’s direction in the Maze Runner films, it’s very visceral, has a strong sense of momentum, it really made those silly movies watchable. And here, it feels so refined and succinct and impactful, which might be due to him bringing some of his Maze Runner collaborators like cinematographer Gyula Pados, editor Dan Zimmerman, and composer John Paesano. It’s very impressive to see him handle something like this so confidently and expertly.

If you were hoping Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes wasn’t going to be another lazy attempt to revive a franchise that ended strongly, then worry not, because the film is very good. Any issues I have are ultimately very minor and nit-picky, like the film vaguely talks about the “teachings” of Caesar, but doesn’t really get into what those teachings are, and how those teachings are twisted and/or taken out of context. I also always found the human element in all these recent Apes movies to be kind of dull. And while that is here, it’s kept at a relative minimum, keeping the focus on the experience of the apes. The story is really strong, and tells a complete arc that leaves things just open enough to explore more stories down the road if another sequel is greenlit. The action is top notch, the actors are uniformly terrific; it’s really just nice to see one of these effects heavy blockbusters where I can feel the artistry at work and it isn’t covered in layers of irony and snark. It’s a refreshing watch for sure in the current blockbuster landscape, and I had a really good time with it.

Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes is now out in theaters.