KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES– 4 STARS

At some point, if these Planet of the Apes reboot prequels are indeed trying to reach the eventual point where a George Taylor astronaut arrives out of time to liberate captive mankind from some damn dirty apes, character realignment is needed to turn heroes into villains. After three phenomenal performances from Andy Serkis as Caesar, this face turn being enjoyed by the apes has to end… right? That is the question. Therefore, how–from a sense of lore–can that shift happen. Will it be a sudden cataclysm or a slow fall from grace? Set 300 years after the concluding events of 2017’s spectacular War for the Planet of the Apes, the new Kingdom of the Planet offers the first tumultuous steps down that possible path.

In a rustic future, the victories and ethics of Caesar have echoed to become bedrock principles and storied myth to the thriving ape society. Clans of them live amid the eroded urban cityscapes that have been slowly reclaimed by nature like postulated scenes from The History Channel’s Life After People. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes introduces Noa, Anaya, and Soona as three young adult apes from a spiritual village nestled amid old power lines that specializes in training falcons to be hunting and attack companions. The rambunctious trio are scaling decaying skyscrapers in search of falcon nests to bring new eggs back to their village as a rite of passage to restock their aviaries.

Among them, Noa (Owen Teague of the It series) is the son of Koro (Neil Sandilands of Sweet Tooth), the village’s master of birds, and the caregiver Dar (Sara Wiseman of Mercy Peak). He is uneasy of his father’s approval or disapproval, especially when Noa loses his initial egg preventing him from beginning the next stage of adulthood apprenticeship. Seeking to rectify his wrong, Noa ventures back to the city to retrieve another egg only to encounter a violent poaching group armed with electrified polearm weapons led by the brutish western lowland gorilla Sylva (Eka Darville of Her Smell).

Materials and scents left behind lead Sylva’s mounted war party to Noa’s village where the peaceful citizens are overrun, even with their falcon support. Sylva razes the homestead and takes survivors away as captured apes for slave labor. This sets Noa off on a desperate search to find Sylva’s trail and rescue his friends and families.

LESSON #1: FINDING YOURSELF– By centering on this redemption and liberation quest for Noa, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes becomes a defacto coming-of-age and anti-tyranny film inside of its blockbuster host. Noa may be inexperienced, alone, and outmatched, but he possesses the loyalty and determination to make something of himself. What he’s missing is the deeper heart of virtue, something he will find from the wise Bornean orangutan Raka (Peter Macon of The Orville) he befriends on his journey. A true believer of the now-ancient adage of “apes together strong,” Raka describes himself as one of the last members of the Order of Caesar who chronicle and teach the historical leader’s core principles.

LESSON #2: BASTARDIZING BELIEFS– Playing the prerequisite elder mentor role we’ve seen time and again in genre films, Raka helps imbue Noa with Caesar’s tenets, many of which were foreign to Noa. Raka also demonstrates how Sylva and his powerful bonobo monarch Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand of The Strain) have bastardized and bent the original Caesar’s laws of unity to their own selfish whim. Proximus has collected his followers and slaves on the coast at a massive, abandoned human bunker in Coronado Bay that he considers his ruling destiny. Naturally, someone needs to stand up for the right and righteous.

Thrust into this confrontation and hiding in the periphery as the potential linchpin of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is the brave “echo” human woman named Mae (Freya Allen of The Witcher). Humans in this distant future are rare, unintelligent, and quite below the apps in societal structure. To the extraordinary surprise of Raka and Noa, Mae is quite different from the typical native. Much like Noa, she too is heartset on both survival and finding the same artifacts and resources sought by Proximus Caesar.

Despite the absence of director Matt Reeves and trilogy screenwriters Mark Bomback, Rick Jaffa, and Amanda Silver, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes did not lose a pixel of technical sophistication for bringing the fluidity and textures to striking life. The performance capture technology remains pristine and the best the industry has to offer. Director Wes Ball of the Maze Runner series and his frequent cinematographer collaborator Gyula Pados show themselves more than capable to shoulder this massive world and extend it to heights and tangents. Pados’ work, in particular, is angular and vibrant to match the physical movements and speed of its hairy subjects. 

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes suffers slightly from a second act lull of quarry tracking and legend dissemination, which helps lengthen the film past the two-hour threshold and sweet spot. There’s a tighter pursuit-driven movie possible, but, for many, there’s worthwhile richness to be found in the details and growth on display. This is Josh Friedman’s first screenplay credit in 18 years since The Black Dahlia, and it feels like he was saving up for an opus. His resurgence in the tentpole scene will continue with The Fantastic Four and the fourth Avatar movie, and it’s not hard to see why. Nevertheless, the weight of this heady and existential movie is sizable.

LESSON #3: SHOW MERCY– Smoldering throughout Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is the precept of mercy. For the most part, this setting is the kind of world where everyone is on the verge of conflict for basic existence and wants what they perceive to be theirs. Characters and factions learn the possible benefits of co-existence rather than dominance, beginning with showing mercy to those you would not normally associate with. Choices of mercy can swell to become decency, morality, and compassion, all accomplished with a unified strength instead of combative one bent with hubris. Alas, we know mankind’s selfishness will bite, scratch, and claw to get their own dominance back–shunning mercy–meaning it’s just a matter of time before the conflict of this franchise changes featured players. 

With time in mind, patience is indeed required when it comes to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. For three films in a row, “expansive” has become the perfect descriptor, and it suits this fourth entry as well. Even with new studio stewardship (Disney igniting the former Fox property) and a new creative braintrust led by Ball, this franchise marches to a different drum and blazes new trails. They are setting yet another stage for an epic crowd pleaser. Among the trend of heavily predictable genre movies with low stakes, this one is going to ponderous and exciting places simultaneously, and it’s all the better for it.