Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
A movie review by Alex First
More monkey business.
Indeed. Here we have another reboot … reset … reconfiguration of the 1968 movie Planet of the Apes, which starred Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall.
In fact, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is the tenth picture in the franchise.
But does it live up to expectations?
“Yes” and “no”, but more of that later.
The story takes place several generations after the great ape Caesar died. He was the one who oversaw simians and mankind living in harmony.
But things have since gone backwards.
Noa (Owen Teague) is a young ape who knows nothing of the outside world or about Caesar. He lives in a busy clan that sings to and trains eagles to fish for them.
The group’s rite of passage begins when young’uns are tasked with securing eagle eggs high up in the mountains and then nurturing them.
That is the starting point for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
Noa’s imminent coming-of-age ceremony is upset by the arrival of a human female named Mae (Freya Allen).
That results in Noa undertaking a grand and dangerous adventure.
He first encounters a wise old ape called Raka (Peter Macon), an orangutan who remembers Caesar’s teachings of decency and morality. Raka preaches tolerance and peace.
Noa’s adversary is a powerful and imposing beast, a gorilla named Sylva (Eka Darville), who heads an adversarial ape army.
That army is beholden to the narcistic Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), who craves technological knowledge that Mae has, hence his quest to capture her.
Sylva will stop at nothing to track down Mae and that involves raiding and torching other clans, including Noa’s.
When his family and friends are captured, Noa is determined to fight back.
At the same time, he has a decidedly uneasy relationship with the whip smart Mae. He is trying to figure out whether he can trust her.
Also in the picture is human captive Trevathan (William H. Macy), who accepts the new status quo, in which apes rule … and teach the primates history.
Written by Josh Friedman (Avatar: The Way of Water), Wes Ball (The Maze Runner) directs Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
It is undoubtedly a good looker. The visuals are impressive. Cinematographer Gyula Pados (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle) has done a fine job.
The sound design adds to the gravitas in the film.
I enjoyed the tentative “dance” between Mae and Noa, which carried on throughout the film, as the pair continued to feel each other out.
Noa gains insights as the narrative evolves, while Mae appears to want to reestablish human control … or does she? There is a mysterious quality to Freya Allen’s representation of Mae.
Sylva is a mighty force to be reckoned with as one of the villains of the piece. In costume, Eka Darville is positively fearsome.
In contrast, I also appreciated the sympathetic representation of Raka by Peter Macon.
Nevertheless, the storyline is dragged out. At 2 hours 25 minutes, the movie is too long. If it had been tightened, it would have had greater impact.
And, surprise, surprise (NOT!), the ending sets up yet another sequel.
Rated M, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes scores a 7 out of 10.
