It’s been seven years since we last got a glimpse of the Planet of the Apes franchise and that’s seven years too long. War for the Planet of the Apes was the last film we were gifted and unfortunately, saw the end of Caesar’s reign.
The story of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes takes audiences several generations into the future where apes are the dominant species living in peace. As a new leader emerges in hopes of building an empire to wipe out humans for good, a young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will not only see the two cross paths but make him question everything he’s ever known.
Directed by Wes Ball, Kingdom makes its stamp from the very beginning as an edition that is unlike the rest. Some names and perspectives will rattle familiar, but the film makes it known from the start, “This is not a Caesar Part Four” type of film. Our young protagonist, Noa (Owen Teague), has a similar curiosity and charisma to our aforementioned hero, but we’re set so far in the future that he’s unaware of his achievements.
Ball made his mark in Hollywood in 2014 with the film The Maze Runner, which grossed more than $348 million worldwide. Along with its follow-ups, The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure, the trilogy has grossed close to $1 billion at the box office. Even though he’s no stranger to success, when asked in 2019 about reviving the franchise, he wasn’t interested. “How do you follow up those last three movies?”
When visualizing the look of the film, the scale of the sets was key to Ball and required the building of enormous sets. He wanted most of the action to take place on practical sets in physical worlds but understood that some scenes would require backgrounds that were created digitally. “In these movies, we’re taking people to a world that doesn’t exist,” he explains. “Of course, there are many visual effects and extensions, but it all starts with standing in a real place and giving the actors something to react to.” The set design and production team deserve top marks for what they created and this is in IMAX was a pure treat.
Owen Teague quickly establishes himself as the centerpiece of the film. He puts on an amazing performance and the way his character developed was a sight to be seen. I cannot say the same for Freya Allen. Her portrayal as Mae was nothing to brag about and her overall character was stale. The film would’ve been the same even if she was never introduced, so I wonder, what was her purpose? We started with James Franco and Freida Pinto and retreated to this. As opposed to building a relationship with Noa, it felt more like a “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” type of deal, which we haven’t seen before.
The film doesn’t go in the direction that the trailers would lead you to think, but when everything is put together, you start to get the feeling we’re going to cross paths with the ’60s original.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes gets an 8 out of 10. As far as I’m concerned, the franchise is shelved in that same category as Jurassic Park where, “If you make it, I’m going to watch it”. While it was visually spectacular, it lacked quite a bit. The runtime of 145 minutes felt too long and part of that is because there wasn’t enough action. There were “some” battles but they were short-lived, nothing like we got to see in the first three films which set the tone and expectation. PG-13 is an appropriate rating for the violence and a select few vulgarities uttered. This is worth splurging to see in IMAX.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will be in theaters this Friday, May 10.
-Jon Jones
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