It can be said that the feat of rebooting old franchises in a new era is quite challenging, and there have been many failures over the years for many reasons. It’s surprising that the 2011 film Rise of the Planet of the Apes would lead to some of the best science fiction franchises of this current cinema era. The latter two films, Dawn and War by Matt Reeves, shift the film into an exploration of humanity and the building of society along with some of the best special effects and motion capture performances in film. With the last one ending the Caesar saga, establishing the Planet of the Apes world and ascending over humanity continuing without Reeves gave many pause. Wes Ball, known for The Maze Runner adaptation trilogy, has taken the helm of this new film Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Continuing in this world, almost a few hundred years since the last film, it allows this series to continue and serves as a reboot for those coming to this fresh and seeing the earlier three films.
This film focuses on Noa, a young chimpanzee from a small village of chimpanzees that raise Eagles. He’s the son of one of the village elders and the raiser of the Eagles, an essential part of this village’s culture. After completing a rite of passage, things are upended once a raiding group of other apes attacks his village, and all of his village is captured. Noa decides to go on a quest to find them and free them. In this quest, he meets an older Orangutan named Raka, who teaches Noa the true ways of Ceasar. Joining them on this quest is a young blonde human woman named Mae, completely upsetting their quest and their interaction with the more aggressive ape kingdom led by Proximus. So with this new start, the type of story shifts from a film serious about a character becoming a messianic figure and leading their people to some place of safety and establishing the ethics of apes that differ from that of humanity. Noa is on a grand adventure, and it’s obvious after the inciting incident, when he goes through a tunnel, we are deep in the Joseph Campbell Hero of Thousand Faces playbook. It also feels more like a YA story, which makes sense with what Ball last directed.
The actors who did the motion capture for these characters did some awe-inspiring work. Ball did well by picking his shots to show the emotions each character was showing in their faces and body language; now, much like the last and also with the Avatar series, the heavy lifting is with the effect teams, and they deserve every ounce of kudos that can be given to them. There are shots in this that legitimately had me in awe with some of the subtly in details in the scene. The action set pieces in this one are much bigger than in the last three as they are less in conflict with humanity and have the feeling of a role-playing game party overcoming a big challenge. There is one thing I disliked, and that was the added focus on the character of Mae. Here, I feel like those who watch the MonsterVerse films and complain about the humans, but this film is a bit different. Throughout the film, she goes from bystander to the other lead, and there’s a feeling she’s there for audience members who can’t relate to the ape characters, so you have her. The humans in these films have always been suspect and not someone to root for as they show what humanity is to nature and the other species that live here – a selfish threat to everything else. What I like about the franchise, which I’ve watched since I was a child, is that it’s about what’s after and seeing these apes look back on us like we look back at ancient societies. I don’t need the humans to be heroic in any sense here.
I really liked this movie; it’s just that one thing that rubbed me the wrong way at the end. I can see how they are setting up a new set of films, and I hope that this connects with audiences well in theaters so we can see where they head with Noa as this new hero. I like how they are expanding a bit into different ape communities that can have different beliefs. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is a great cinematic experience in the theater, especially on the IMAX screen I saw it on.
Score: B+
RIOTUS 