Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Hundreds of years after legendary ape Caesar was eyewitness to the rise of his kind over once dominant humans, a young inexperienced chimpanzee of the Eagle Clan, Noa (Owen Teague, "It," "Montana Story") is torn between the power hungry Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand, "Abigail"), who has twisted Caesar’s teachings, and Raka, an orangutan (Peter Macon) who teaches compassion for humans in the “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.”
Laura's Review: B+
This is the way to reboot a franchise. Kicking off what I assume will be the next trilogy in the “Planet of the Apes” world, screenwriter Josh Friedman ("Avatar: The Way of Water") gives us a story that, while told from Noa’s perspective, is the closest in feel to the 1968 original with scenes of a human (Freya Allan, TV's 'The Witcher') named Nova, Charlton Heston’s love interest, being led shackled across a beach by apes on horseback (the finale hints that we just may see George Taylor arrive in this one’s sequel).
It is a rousing adventure, the apes having split into various clans with one trying to rule them all (the more we evolve, the worse we seem to behave). Director Wes Ball ("The Maze Runner" trilogy) splits the film into three distinct acts, the first introducing the Eagle Clan as Noa and his friends Soona (Lydia Peckham) and Anaya (Travis Jeffery, "Unbroken") venture out to begin their initiation into adulthood by obtaining an egg from an eagle’s nest, one which they will nurture and eventually train. Noa climbs higher than the others, a feat which nearly kills him, yet he comes away with his egg intact. But the trio is spooked when they return to their horses and he finds his blanket has been stolen. They find it hanging from a branch at the mouth of a tunnel which they clearly fear. This society is so advanced, they have trained eagles to fish for them and, while walking through their smokehouse, Noa is startled by an echo, how this clan refer to humans (and the name of an orangutan in the original film), who he considers thieving nuisances. His elders, having determined the smell on his blanket belongs to one, send out an ape to find them and Noa surreptitiously follows.
This leads to the second act where Noa, finding that elder stabbed to death, faces the fierce mask clan, who spook his horse and follow it back to his village, which they raze, killing Noa’s father and taking survivors hostage. Noa escapes and sets off to find them, encountering Raka, the last of the clan of Caesar who gives the young chimp a new perspective on what Raka calls humans. When the woman who’s been following Noa is seen at the edge of their campfire, Raka throws her some apples and names her, but when they run across more humans, then the ferocious masks, Nova shocks them by calling Noa’s name for help. The three escape, but the masks eventually take Noa and Nova hostage leading into the third act which finds Proximus determined to break into a human weapons and technology stronghold and Mae determined to stop him.
While the loss of Andy Serkis’s Caesar is strongly felt, the series feels rejuvenated, Teague taking Noa through multiple arcs as he loses his family, finds them and finds it within himself to become their leader, all while dealing with a complicated relationship with the human who recruits him into her own mission. It’s a coming of age story, a sci-fi epic and a great work of craft, production designer Daniel T. Dorrance imagining a human world reclaimed by nature, then rebuilt by apes with the spectacular motion capture CGI we’ve come to expect in these films, here embellished with the eagles trained by Noa’s clan. We could argue the amazing robustness of human technology (as well as availability of clothing) that appears to have weathered hundreds of years, but it is essential to the continuation of the story and this one leaves you wanting more.
Along with Teague, Kevin Durand is a standout as Proximus. The film also stars William H. Macy as Trevathan, a human who teaches Proximus human history and who becomes very symbolic when Noa is confronted by behavior in Nova, whose real name is Mae, goes against Caesar’s teachings. Then again, as Raka stated earlier, Caesar forgave. “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is the real kickoff to the 2024 summer season.
20th Century Studios releases "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" in theaters on 5/10/23.
