Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Review

20^th Century Studios have returned to the Planet of the Apes with a fourth entry in the reboot series and the tenth film overall in the franchise. This film shows how ape society has developed since the fall of man.

Generations after the death of Caesar ape society flourished and formed many different cultures and ideals. One village contains the Falconry Clan and the heir to the clan, Noa (Owen Teague) is set to partake in a coming-of-age ritual. When his village is attacked and captured by another tribe of apes, Noa sets out to go on a rescue mission and must go beyond his valley.

The Planet of the Apes films have varied in quality, but they have often had something said and when they were at their best they can be cracking sci-fi films. The “Caesar” Trilogy was a fantastic set of films that were character-driven and showed how special effects-heavy films should be made. They delivered on the story and themes as well as the spectacle. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes aimed to honour those films.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes seemed like it was going to be a soft reboot of the series because of the time jump. There were new characters, but this film did act as a conclusion to the previous trilogy. The film opens with Caesar’s funeral and shows characters like Maurice and Rocket attending. It showed how important the ape was to his species, and showed some of the symbols that were created in his time. Caesar’s legacy looms large over the film since different factions have different interpretations of the great ape’s teachers. Raka (Peter Macon) was a scholar who was trying to preserve the true teachings of Caesar, one who tolerates humans, whilst the villain of the piece, Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) had distorted Caesar’s ideals and symbols to ensure he had a powerbase and justify his actions.

A lost past has played an important role in many of the Planet of the Apes movies. The original film has one of the most famous endings in film history because of events that had been suppressed by the elders of ape society. The events from Caesar’s time were so long ago and were incredibly chaotic, which meant traditions were formed but the initial meaning for them was lost. This happened with Raka naming a young woman ‘Nova’ even though the reason why was lost to time. Proximus’ aim was to bring her into an abandoned bunker so he could get access to human technology and one of his advisors taught about human history. Proximus modelled himself on a human king. The main human character, Mae (Freya Allen) was trying to bring back a world that no longer exists when humans dominated the planet. It led to a debate amongst the characters about the morality of Mae’s beliefs.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes gave the series a hero’s journey narrative. Noa a young ape was living in a peaceful village and was forced to go on an adventure. He was the Frodo Baggins, Luke Skywalker, or Rand al’Thor of his world, someone whose world suddenly expanded and was forced to grow on their journeys. On the way, Noa meets mentors, allies, and enemies on his quest. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes story was similar to Apocolypto due to the setup of a whole village being abducted by a more militant tribe. It turned out that this was deliberate since the director pitched it as “Apocalypto with apes.” Proximus did have some similarities to Immortan Joe, the villain in Mad Max: Fury Road since they were both cult leaders with armies behind them.

A more cynical view of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes was the story being similar to War for the Planet of the Apes. The heroes in both films were focused on being forced to go on a quest to find a villain who had enslaved apes. However, these similarities were Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes following broader story points, it wasn’t a carbon copy of its predecessor.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes brought in a new creative team; Wes Ball and Josh Friedman. Ball previously directed the Maze Runner trilogy, and his Planet of the Apes film had some similar beats since it was about a young character who found out they were really living in a post-apocalyptic world slowly discovering the truth. Josh Friedman has proven himself as a sci-fi writer, working on projects like Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of War of the Worlds, the Avatar series, and Apple TV’s Foundation. Due to the large time jump they were able to put their own stamp on the series. The Apes had formed their own cultures, and the post-apocalyptic surroundings had a great look to them since the buildings and structures were crumbling and covered in plants.

This ape-centric story meant most of the cast were in motion-capture suits. There were only two major human characters in the film. Weta Digital has outdone itself on the visual effects and they must be the leading candidate for the Visual Effects Oscar in 2025.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes was the longest film in the franchise. This resulted in the film’s biggest issue since it did drag on occasion.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will be seen as one of the best films in the franchise. It does what the best Planet of the Apes films do, focus on story, worldbuilding, and characters. It’s a big-budget sci-fi film with a brain.