"Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" review — Evolution comes at a price
“What a wonderful day!”
It’s a new age for the planet of the apes. The series has jumped three centuries into the future, where the ruins of human civilization and the glory days of Andy Serkis’ Caesar are but a distant memory. There was a rise, there was a dawn, there was a war, and now, the apes are establishing their growing kingdom. All hail the new world. In reality, it’s been just seven years since we heard from the Planet of the Apes franchise. Although, at times, these last seven years at times feel as if they were three centuries. With a never-ending cavalcade of catastrophic world events — chief of which being our own answer to the species-destroying Simian Flu — our world teeters precariously on the brink of oblivion. This reimaged origin story to the Charlton Heston-starring ‘68 original feels more timely than ever. Our climate is increasingly unstable, vicious war ravages the globe, all the while we got a taste of what a real pandemic feels like. The world’s going to end!
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes isn’t so much concerned with the collapse of humanity’s way of life, which was central to the duo of bleak Matt Reeves-directed Apes movies in 2014 and 2017, but with what happens after. There’s a whole new dominant species on the rise with new cultures forming everywhere. Gone is the desperate gun-filled warfare of previous installments, now being replaced with a more traditional “hero’s journey” narrative, where our vulnerable protagonist finds himself in a world expounding with potential. Kingdom isn’t quite as sharp as the rest of the reboot series, but it puts in a strong effort regardless. The visual effects remain incredibly strong, with incredible detail given to the almost exclusively digital cast. The principal characters are well-written and diverse, especially the film’s antagonist, giving the conflict substantiative emotional weight. It’s more exploratory and thoughtful than some of the other blockbusters smattering the screen in the summer months. While the film drags its heels in a few too many spots, a stand-out finale gives it life to get over the finish line as a success.
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| Photo via 20th Century Studios. |
Three hundred years in the future — in a reality where society collapsed in approximately 2011 — a race of increasingly intelligent apes is solidifying their dominance over the land once known as the United States of America. Among the various tribes of apes trying to survive their new reality is the Eagle Clan, a small group of primates with a distinct connection to eagles. Here we find Noa (played by Owen Teague), the son of the clan’s leader, who’s just on the cusp of adulthood and ready to embrace his growing responsibilities to his family and tribe. It’s a peaceful life for Noa, his parents, his friends, and the other members of his clan. They spend their days hunting, fishing, and training birds. They have made their towering homes out of old transmission towers, their former purposes no longer known to the apes. The world that once was is forgotten and shrouded in mystery. Humans, called “echoes” by the Eagle Clan, are a rare sight. But peace isn’t made to last for the Eagle Clan: the world beyond their slice of Eden is a hostile place and the hand of progress soon disrupts their idyllic world.
Riding in on horseback and armed with strange new weapons, a pack of evil apes tears the Eagle Clan’s home apart and carries most of the tribe into exile, leaving Noa, presumed dead, alone and without his people. He begins his journey into the wilderness, where he comes across a wise orangutan named Roko (played by Peter Macon), a disciple of the teachings of Caesar, the great ape leader from the first three movies. Roko too has suffered at the hands of the ape raiders terrorizing the forest and agrees to help Noa find his family. On their path, the two meet Nova (played by Freya Allan), a human woman with more than a few secrets up her sleeve who also has her eyes set on the same enemy. After a tense fight on a rotting wood bridge over a raging river, Noa and his companions are captured and taken to the lair of one Proximus Caesar (played by Kevin Durand), an ape with the aspirations of an emperor.
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| Photo via 20th Century Studios. |
While the film is the fourth chapter in this new Planet of the Apes timeline, Kingdom is very distinct from its immediate predecessors. The grounded, low-key science fiction of 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes has been replaced with fantastical visions of a Roman Empire-obsessed primate ruler. The muted colours, perpetual rain, and dark tone of 2014’s Dawn of and 2017’s War for have been traded for vibrant green landscapes and a more optimistic spirit. In fact, the film hardly feels like a sequel at all, which works to its advantage, leaving director Wes Ball and writer Josh Friedman free to carve out a new path for themselves. The film does, thankfully, maintain the sort of moral ambiguity that made its predecessors stand out from the rest of the blockbuster crowd. The conflict at the heart of the film is more than just weightless action, despite the film taking a lighter tone. Instead, we’re left with conflicting feelings about Noa’s allegiances and the survival of his kind, which may come at the cost of the survival of another.
There’s a hard narrative shift in the film’s back half, where the story changes from Noa’s journey across this new world to him being stuck in Proximus’ encampment. He finds his family, an intelligent human (played by William H. Macy), and a stockpile of weapons that would change the future. The emperor has a job for Noa: help him find a way into a locked-down human military base that holds the key to his power as leader. Proximus is obsessed with the idea of evolution, where he sees himself as a figure destined to launch ape-kind forward hundreds of years technologically and culturally. He’s named himself after the great leader, now taking and perverting Caesar’s words, including the now iconic phrase “Apes together strong,” to invigorate his underlings into a sense of community despite the brutality. He’s an excellent villainous presence which leads into a very effective finale at the camp in a frenetic confrontation between the Eagle Clan and Proximus’ henchmen.
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| Photo via 20th Century Studios. |
Proximus makes for such a compelling villain in no small part due to the film’s excellent motion capture performances. Durand’s character is a ferocious, terrifying leader, with profound concerns for his species and a destructive streak of narcissism in him. Teague’s Noa is a sweet, innocent character, wonderfully realized by the behind-the-scenes team. Macon’s Roko radiates warmth and kindness, a strong blend of the performer’s excellent voice and physicality with a lovely character model. There are some particularly excellent wet fur textures and water physics in one pulse-pounding encounter over a river. Many won’t particularly notice it, but I appreciated it nonetheless. The film misses a little too much when it comes to visual style, however, despite the strength of its digital textures. The cinematography and production design come up unfortunately short in places, lacking the sort of flair that would make them stand out as much as the visual effects. While his direction is competent and unobtrusive, Ball lacks the sort of visual and sensory imagination to make this a truly stand-out experience.
By the end of its story, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes doesn’t quite evolve into a true summer action spectacle, but an adventure into a great unknown world. The world changes swiftly, and the price of evolution is heavy for the characters and the planet at large. The film isn’t entirely successful in scratching the itch for some great adventure, but it offers a promising start. With gorgeous visual effects, a fantastic narrative, and some excellent performances, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes pushes ever forward into a brave new world.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is now playing in theatres.
Written by Josh Friedman
Starring Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, and William H. Macy
Released May 10, 2024
145 minutes
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