'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' Review
Wes Ball's first non-"Maze Runner" feature is quite possibly his best yet.
Mild spoilers for the Planet of the Apes trilogy (2011-2017) follow
The Planet of the Apes reboot franchise- ushered in by Rupert Wyatt’s Rise and seemingly concluded with Matt Reeves’ excellent Dawn and War- has seemingly been given another breath of fresh air. It’s really a marvel that this franchise has been allowed to be as good as it is: there’s rarely a sign of corporate fingerprints on any of it. This is the first Apes film released since the Disney-Fox merger that was completed in 2019, and it’s really a testament to 20th’s president, Steve Asbell, who unlike most film executives seems to be a genuine fan of cinema, and longtime franchise producers Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver that both director Wes Ball and veteran sci-fi screenwriter Josh Friedman were able to really cook up something special with this one.
Owen Teague takes the reins as the lead ape, Noa, in this one from Andy Serkis, and is ably supported by Peter Macon as the wise orangutan Raka and Kevin Durand as the tyrant king Proximus Caesar. No excessive $20 million actor fees here! For this film, Ball has wisely casted character actors with backgrounds in science-fiction projects (Lost, The Stand, The Orville) who would feel comfortable giving their best performances in otherwise unflattering motion-capture suits: all with the knowledge that only their voices, movements, and facial expressions would make it onto the big screen. And just like in the last trilogy, it pays off: the apes in these movies continue to be the best single argument for “CGI good” in the modern era. The VFX work (led by franchise veteran Erik Winquist) is truly stunning in how it convincingly conveys the actors’ performances and allows you to fully buy-in to the fantastic story.
But the real highlight of the film is the unique story: the last few films had a grounded feel that was atypical of all blockbusters in the wake of The Dark Knight: no astronauts or screaming, shirtless Charlton Heston to be found in 2011’s Rise. Matt Reeves’ next two films infused the franchise with a semi-Shakespearean tone of grandeur and tragedy as the protagonist, Caesar (Serkis) found himself a king by necessity, with the newfound responsibility of his entire, “enlightened,” species.
Penned by Josh Friedman, a genre stalwart whose most notable credit is Spielberg’s excellent War of the Worlds, this film returns to the series’ science fiction roots, exploring a world that is further from our own than that which was shown in the last films: the events of this movie are removed by at least 300 years. By this point, the apes have branched off into different societies all over the world, and humans, sometimes referred to as “Echoes,” are a nuisance barely tolerated and yet rarely seen. I don’t want to give away too much of the film, as there are some genuine surprises and jaw-dropping moments that I was not expecting, but it feels more akin to the work of Rod Serling (who was also the co-writer of the original 1968 film) than anything I’ve seen on the big screen in recent memory. The fact that Friedman was able to successfully tap into this feeling on such an engaging and thought-provoking level leaves me not surprised that both James Cameron and Kevin Feige have recruited him to work on projects.
The film is also a surprisingly touching tribute to the family: at the outset of the film Noa lives in his village with his mother, Dar (Sara Wiseman) and father Koro (Neil Sandilands), the latter of which is the village’s “Master of Birds” and teaches his son the skills of falconry. Noa’s devotion to his family is admirable, very reminiscent of one of the best films of 2022, Robert Eggers’ The Northman, which also featured a strong father figure. There’s no hidden political messaging, no messages to be shoved down throats: when your cast is 80% CGI ape, how much in that realm can you really say? Between this film, Deadpool and Wolverine, and Alien: Romulus team at Fox looks to be doing the heavy lifting with Disney’s box-office this year, and with story-first films like this one I am not too surprised. Overall, I highly recommend Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and look that much more forward to Ball’s next film, The Legend of Zelda.
Maybe one day we’ll get his canceled Mouse Guard movie too.