‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)

Directed by Wes Ball

They simply can’t make a bad one of these movies, can they? Even without direct involvement from Matt Reeves and Andy Serkis (the director and star, respectively, of the previous three movies), “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” made good on the momentum that that spectacular trilogy ended with when its protagonist, Caesar, laid down to die in 2017. Now, roughly 300 years later, apes (including the young protagonist, Noa, played by actor Owen Teague using motion-capture) are even more dominant. Their speech capabilities are farther advanced, and instead it’s humans (the few that are left) that have taken to living in the shadows and scavenging for scraps. That includes a young woman, Mae (Freya Allan), who travels with Noa and an orangutan named Raka (Peter Macon) on a mission to rescue Noa’s clan from a rival gang of apes. Though Caesar is no longer alive, his legacy looms large. Raka is a student of Caesar’s words and a devotee to his message of coexistence with humans. Can they work together to save Noa’s family and friends from their enslaver?

During pre-production, director Wes Ball (the “Maze Runner” trilogy) consulted with Matt Reeves, whose idea it originally was to create a new trilogy to follow up the events of his previous trilogy. That trilogy—“Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” and “War for the Planet of the Apes”—lives on as one of the most complete and consistent sci-fi or action trilogies of the 21^st century. And with the advancement of motion-capture technology between “Rise” and “Dawn,” the franchise only got better as it went on. Wes Ball was committed to doing right by the franchise, using mo-cap and shooting almost all of its scenes on location rather than in front of green-screens. If the mo-cap performances don’t exactly reach the heights set by Andy Serkis, it’s largely because the apes in “Kingdom” stand up straighter and talk more clearly than they ever did before. They’re becoming a little more human every day, which means the need for a man with a face as dexterous as Serkis’s is lessened. The actors in these roles do a capable job, and the CGI that puts ape skins on the human performers is as good as it ever was.

By only using CGI when nothing else was possible, Wes Ball bridges the gap between traditional storytelling and new-world technology. And it pays off. Despite a 145-minute runtime (which makes it longer than any of the previous movies), “Kingdom” held my attention until the very end. “Kingdom” has all the features of classic blockbuster storytelling—a journey, a rescue, and an escape. Noa is a wonderful character, but the original Caesar looms large. I loved the way the movie treats Caesar as a Christ-like figure who inspires apes to live a certain way. “Kingdom” could have ignored the events of the previous movies entirely, or just referenced the trilogy to cheaply drum up a sense of nostalgia in audience members, but instead it builds an entirely new storyline, 300 years later, that weaves in Caesar’s story seamlessly.

“Kingdom” certainly sets up a world with tons of potential for future stories. I know we’re supposed to discourage filmmakers from rebooting franchises too quickly after they end, but when it’s done this well, I don’t blame them for their impatience.

8/10