The Planet of the Apes saga continues with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. This sci-fi action film is set many generations after the end of 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes, which saw an end to the Andy Serkis-led Caesar trilogy.
This movie serves as a standalone sequel directed by Wes Ball, known for helming The Maze Runner movies. With the Planet of the Apes reboot trilogy being one of the biggest surprises of the last few years, this movie had a lot to live up to. Fortunately, it mostly sticks the landing with another wonderful entry into the franchise.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes had many challenges on its hands. It needed to be set in this world that was dominated by apes again, while also establishing a new set of characters. The main ape we follow in this movie is Noa (Owen Teague), a young character who’s still finding his way in the world. The time period the movie is set in is fascinating. If the reboot trilogy was meant to show how apes would inherit the Earth, this movie puts the apes in a place that’s closer to how they are in the original 1968 film Planet of the Apes. The apes are not as advanced as they are then, but they’ve built their own civilization with clans and many members of their intricate society.
Unlike the reboot trilogy, which had a strong focus on the relationships between apes and humans, humans don’t show up for a while in this movie. For a while, we’re with the apes, establishing what the world has become in the past few hundred years. The first act is a bit slow, and it feels as if the film needs a bit more momentum for a few parts. This is where Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes doesn’t reach the heights of that trilogy because there’s never a dull moment in those films. This movie is not as efficiently paced, but it picks up considerably towards the end of the first act.
When tragedy strikes the lead character, he goes down a path of vengeance. This is where the movie is at its strongest. It spends a lot of time developing his character as a naive adventurer, and when events take a turn for the worse, he is left with the pieces of who he once was. Seeing his arc as he must traverse the world, learning new discoveries, and going to darker places is what makes parts of the story so compelling. The issue is his goal does not always feel like it’s at the forefront of the events taking place, which prevents it from reaching its full potential as a strong motivator for this story.
There’s a ton to admire with the visual effects. Starting with the 2011 reboot, this franchise pivoted away from using human actors in full makeup for the apes. This new batch of Apes movies has consistently featured some of the best motion capture and CGI ever put to screen. With Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Andy Serkis was the easy choice to play Caesar, having previously done mo-cap work as Gollum and King Kong. But Teague is a newcomer to mo-cap, and his work here is fantastic. All of the performances from the ape actors are phenomenal. Kevin Durand, who recently made an impression in Abigail, gives another home run of a performance as the villain named Proximus Caesar.
Every single moment in this movie is believable. Ball does a phenomenal job of crafting his camera choices to sell every bit of this world. The illusion that these are real apes doing real things never gets broken once. The visual effects team performs staggering, Oscar-worthy work that is on par with James Cameron’s Avatar movies. Ball proves himself a strong successor to the world that was established by previous franchise directors Rupert Wyatt and Matt Reeves. He brings a strong vision here and the cinematography from Gyula Pados mixed with the immaculate effects makes this the most gorgeous movie of 2024 so far.
There’s a very fresh perspective that Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes brings as well. The first movie had well-known talents like James Franco, John Lithgow, and Brian Cox. The sequel brought in Gary Oldman and Jason Clarke, and the most recent movie before this had Woody Harrelson as the villain. Kingdom is free of recognizable A-list faces, and it’s all the better because of it. The main human character is Mae (Freya Allen) who quickly becomes a more fascinating character than who we’ve seen. Many of the human characters are either good people or bad people. She is morally grey, and the places they take her character as the story progresses become more and more interesting.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is not as emotionally investing or dramatic as the previous trilogy. Those movies are much stronger in how they explore this concept. However, Kingdom remains a worthy installment in a franchise that has remained entertaining. The best aspect of this movie is how it depicts the way apes have interpreted Caesar’s words, passed down from generation to generation. His teachings resemble that of a deity, and there are many parallels to real life with how the apes use his words and interpret them in ways that he may not have agreed with. Elements like this make this a thought-provoking, well-crafted blockbuster with endless potential for the future.
SCORE: 7/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 7 equates to “Good.” A successful piece of entertainment that is worth checking out, but it may not appeal to everyone.
