TL;DR – While you can feel some tension in the script at times, this is still a solid entry into the franchise with characters you care about and a world you want to explore.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Review –

Without a doubt, I have loved the Planet of the Apes reboot films. Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a great foundation, and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was this sad meditation on the legacy of trauma, all before ending the trilogy with this grand biblical epic of War of the Planet of the Apes that hit the big 5 out of 5 stars. So, there was a bit of hesitance to come back to this world after such a long time and a new creative team, but thankfully, I had nothing to worry about.

So to set the scene, we open with the final funeral of Caeser, a leader who brought his people out of danger and into a new promised land but was unable to enter himself. Led by Maurice (Karin Konoval), it is a solemn event, but it is the start of something, and you see that in the world several generations later. It is here where Noa (Owen Teague) and his friends Soona (Lydia Peckham) and Anaya (Travis Jeffery) climb up through the ruins of the old world to find eagle eggs. They are a village of eagle trainers, and Noa’s dad, Koro (Neil Sandilands), is the leader who sings to the new eggs. However, when Noa sees an Echo (human), little does he know the carnage that is following in their wake and how his world is about to change forever.

Now, it should go without mentioning that the visual effects in this film are some of the best in the business. Wētā Workshop has built on the tech that we saw in the past movies and has taken it to the next level. All of the characters feel real, and you can see those performances and, more importantly, that emotion come through at all times. You will feel all the emotions in this film, the sadness, the anger, and a surprising amount of humour. Then there is the presentation of the apes, with glorious fur physics reminiscent of the best work in the business of Kong: Skull Island. This time around, they also extend that to creating all the eagles, which also work just as well, with unique personalities. It also helps build the world with some of the most beautiful post-apocalyptic scenery that I have seen in a while. The blend of ruin and decay and explosive new growth makes for a fascinating dichotomy.

This world creates a playground for all the performances to land in and land they do. Owen Teague gets to show quite a range as we see Noa’s progression through this world. His life and growth are how the film progresses, and there is sadness and strength in the lessons he learns. Peter Macon creates a tremendous double act as the sage Raka, who becomes a moral centre for the journey. Then, of course, we get Kevin Durand, who is trying to take up every centimetre of the screen with his performance of Proximus Caesar. He is nearly 100% bravado, and it works. The counterpoint to all of this is Freya Allan, who plays the main human character, Nova. While everyone else’s character wears their personalities on their sleeves, Nova is much more reserved, having lived in a world where she is being constantly hunted. This creates a juxtaposition that the film needs. Helping to frame these performances was the musical score that followed the themes of the movie by pulling on references of the past, the works of Michael Giacchino and Jerry Goldsmith, but also combining them with their own voice to find something new.

I think it was an excellent choice to start the film in the world of War of the Planet of the Apes but then quickly move the action ‘many generations’ later. It gives you scope to honour what has come before, which this film does in its iconography and history. But also, to tell your own story in this world where apes reign supreme is the only thing people have ever known. The stories of the past have become legends ready to be venerated, forgotten, or twisted for your own agendas. Noa is from a tribe that does not even remember who Caeser was, and that creates a lot of narrative potential when it comes crashing up against a shifting world. This combination of the old and the new cuts through every level of the film, and I found it fascinating to watch.  

One of the strengths of the film was the choice to shoot much of the film on location. When you have an effects-heavy movie, it can be hard to find an anchor if everything is generated. Here much like The Creator, you get a grounding in a real world, a heavily modified real world, but real nonetheless. I do think it is a bit funny that even though it is clearly filmed here in Australia, yet from my travels in California, I know there may be enough gum trees over there that it is plausible that this is how the world turns out after an age. The action is all solid and interspersed well in between the sort of post-apocalyptic road trip through the ruins that make up the rest of the film. This creates a scenario where you will have a number of intense moments that will hit on an emotional level, and hit they do.

While I did enjoy my time with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, there were a couple of issues that did seep through during my time with the film. You could feel a little bit of tension when it was trying to honour the past but also push it forward into a new trilogy of films, and this sometimes clashed with them trying to tell an interesting story in its own right. Some of the character motivations don’t quite line up once you have seen the film as a whole. Also, once they reach Proxima’s camp, that third act does start to drag a touch. None of these are deal breakers, and the film 100% sticks the landing, but they are there.     

In the end, do we recommend Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes? Absolutely. It is curious and bombastic, explosive, and yet emotional. I could recommend it for the effects alone, but the story and performances take it to the next level, and I look forward to seeing where we go from here. If you liked Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, we would recommend to you Station Eleven.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Directed by – Wes Ball
Screenplay by – Josh Friedman
Based on – Characters created by Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver, & The Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle, & The Planet of the Apes by Michael Wilson & Rod Serling
Music by – John Paesano
Cinematography by – Gyula Pados
Edited by – Dan Zimmerman
Production/Distribution Companies – Oddball Entertainment, Jason T. Reed Productions & 20th Century Studios
Starring – Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, William H. Macy, Travis Jeffery, Lydia Peckham, Neil Sandilands, Sara Wiseman, Eka Darville, Ras-Samuel Welda’abzgi, Dichen Lachman & Karin Konoval
Rating – Australia: M; Canada: PG; Germany: 12; New Zealand: na; United Kingdom: 12A; United States: PG-13