For a film series built on the silliest of premises (what if apes were smart and humans were dumb) it is impressive for this one to be so effective most of the time. The Tim Burton travesty notwithstanding, the reimagined trilogy had no business being so consistently good. Sure, the idea of talking apes isn’t for everyone, but entries like “Dawn” and “War for the Planet of the Apes” remain at the forefront of cinematic technology and magnificent world building and storytelling. With that high praise in mind, it pains me to zag when everyone else is zigging, but “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is the first mediocre entry so far. That’s not to say it doesn’t look incredible (which it does) nor that it doesn’t do enough with its themes to take the story into new directions. Simply that, narratively speaking, it just isn’t as compelling as its predecessors. “Kingdom” may look beautiful, but it simply cannot escape the pitfalls of soft reboot and franchise syndrome; the kind where the movie itself feels more like a trailer for the film they want to make in the future instead of a fully fleshed out film of its own.
I know, this is not in the echo chamber of reviews who have raved about this latest entry. And I want to be clear on my criticisms before we really get into them: “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is entertaining as hell. Though it may lack the character depth and narrative richness of its superior predecessors, its visuals, stellar voice cast and some well crafted action set pieces really are enough to keep you engaged over its 2 hour plus runtime. I can’t in good faith say there’s nothing to mine from the story or the themes of furthering its roots to grow into something else in the future. But “Kingdom” feels like it’s made at arms length, never fully engaging with its characters enough to make them meaningful, and falling just short of justifying its existence beyond the proverbial “ya, we’re doing this again…again.” My hope was to be whisked away and immersed into a marvelous world of Apes. And while there were certainly moments, I never felt fully invited.
Directed by Wes Ball (“The Maze Runner” trilogy, and boy oh boy does this make all the sense in the world now) and written by Josh Friedman (“War of the Worlds,” “The Black Dahlia“) “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” takes place generations after the events of “War.” Caesar has long since passed, leading to the apes being split into numerous factions and clans and villages. Noa (Owen Teague) is a young ape who is a part of an eagle-centric clan. While preparing for a ritual, his ceremonial egg is damaged and he sets out in the night to get another one before the ceremony. He encounters another clan, one lead by Proximus Caesar (Kevin Duran having an absolute blast), who has named himself king under the skewed words of Caesar’s teachings. His men demolish Noa’s village and take the apes to their palace to be enslaved, again skewing the “apes together strong” mantra still repeated to this day. Noa (thought to be dead) embarks on a journey to find and save his clan, and along the way encounters a wise orangutan with knowledge of the old world and Caesar’s true teachings and a human who can speak on a mission of her own. “Kingdom” also stars Freya Allan (“The Witcher“), Peter Macon, and William H. Macy.
“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” takes a different approach than its predecessors in a number of ways, first and foremost limiting the amount of human characters to two instead of splitting the focus between clashes and peacekeepers on either side. This is kind of a gift and a curse; it is a showcase of spectacle when it comes to rendering apes because it spends an enormous amount of its runtime filling the frame with visual effects, but it is also a hindrance in that the emotive capabilities even at the height of technological power still don’t communicate as well. They’re not emotionless by any means, and we capture ape expressions in “Kingdom” far better than say the nightmare inducing live action “The Lion King.” But without a genuine audience surrogate (who in this case is a brand new ape in Noa) it makes it difficult to fully invest in the journey. Every ape is new, and the film backs itself into a corner introducing so many new faces without having the time to allow us to attach ourselves to them completely. I’m usually one to ask for a limited amount of humans in my CGI monster/ape/animal movies, but here they are shockingly missing.
This is also because Mae/Nova (Allan) is one of two human characters whose her entire arc and motivations are deeply guarded throughout. “Kingdom” treats her more as a taste of things to come rather than being a part of the story at hand, despite forcing her existence to be a catalyst for Noa’s arc (no pun intended). Trevathan (Macy) is the only other human with dialogue, and he is introduced so late in the film that his impact, though meant to be great, is a little more than a blink and you miss him role. All of this would be fine if “Kingdom” wasn’t so messy with its overall storytelling. Ball and Freidman seem to want to have it all; build a new world with new characters while paying homage to its predecessors while also setting everything up for a new franchise. That’s a massive undertaking for any filmmaker, but it’s also a lot to ask the audience to process. There is a cacophony of subplots that feel poised to matter later but are also tasked with mattering in the present no matter how little they are given to do, leading to a bloated narrative that somehow feels undercooked.
And that’s a shame, because underneath the big action set pieces, beautiful visuals, and muddied story, “Kingdom” really is trying to wrestle with some thematically rich subject matter. Proxima as the literal manifestation of “absolute power corrupts absolutely” and power of mythology used to hold sway over others is compelling. And the idea that on a long enough timeline and enough human knowledge, ultimately both ape and human can’t escape the cycle of history’s mistakes.
Unfortunately, none of this is explored until nearly an hour into the film, and is almost fleeting to get to a big third act battle. And while the entire third act looks great, it does leave you with a bit of “super easy, barely an inconvenience” unfolding, and concludes with inconclusive results. Leading into a sequel only works if your story feels as if it has wrapped itself up, but instead “Kingdom” feels like a part 1 or half of a movie. Which is strange considering how long the film is, and demonstrates how unnecessarily sprawling things are. Our characters are only just beginning to come into focus before we fade to black, and it left me feeling shortchanged and bit cold.
“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is ultimately diminishing returns on a rather consistent investment. It is not a bad film but not good enough to warrant a NEW new trilogy. Which is sure to come, as apes at the movies will probably do more than enough to smash the box office for a couple of weeks. Maybe I’m wrong and upon a rewatch down the road I’ll find and connect with whatever everyone else seems to be seeing. For now, this is a fine entry into a stellar franchise that is overshadowed by the better craft and skill and purpose of the predecessors it is trying to build upon. It furthers the story, but struggles to invite you into the story being told. I was certainly entertained, but I wasn’t clamoring for more by the end.
Special shout out to Durand (“Vikings“), whose near perfect line delivery of “What a wonderful day!” will live rent free in my head for months.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is now playing in theaters. You can watch the trailer below.
