Review of the Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

 

Kicking off an intended second modern trilogy, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is a movie that appears to start small and builds towards a big climax. Yet there’s more to it than that, a real craftsmanship to every frame, a sense that this is a deeper, broader movie than the title may suggest. People might scoff at such a thought but regardless of whether you get the story or even the concept this is a very well posed movie that easily betters most other films in any iteration since the classic 1968 debut to which it owes a certain debt.

Set generations after the events of the last film it finds the long deceased  Caesar has attained legendary status even if sometimes his legacy is being misused by the powerful Proximus who has taken on the name Caeser in order to spread his authority via his masked soldiers.Yet he has cherry picked the parts of Caeser’s philosophy that suit his ends while abandoning the keynote principle of “ape will not harm ape”. It’s a familiar credo throughout real history.

Amongst the places Proximus’s minions ransack for slaves is the home of young ape Noa. He seems a more perceptive chimp than most and after the attack embarks on a quest to find his missing his family and friends joined by wise orangutan Raka who teaches him some of Caeser’s real philosophy having access to history books. They also encounter a surprisingly talkative human girl called Nova who initially seems an innocent victim of the hunt yet has an agenda (and another name) of her own. When things go wrong Noa ends up imprisoned with the apes from his colony and others in a settlement made from old metal buildings sitting by the stormy sea and finds that Proximus has an unusual aim wanting to open a sealed secure facility built by humans believing there will be something important inside.

 The plot may not tax the mind too much, though remans interesting, but is a film that wins with its depiction of an alternative civilisation and a photo realistic looking portrait of a different world. As previous films showed the ape prosthetics and digital effects between them are faultless to the point where you can really see each actor’s performance. That the Oscars still refuse to actually recognise them as actors is something that needs to be changed so these motion capture performances are treated equally with other acting roles. That might especially benefit both Owen Teague and Peter Macon who are especially good as the inquisitive, always learning Noa and the intelligent and amiable Raka. And Kevin Durand is formidable as the intimidating Proximus though refreshingly this is a character who does have some subtlety in his actions.

From early sequences showing Noa and his friends searching in perilous places for eggs, this is a film that brings realism to an unreal scenario. Wes Ball directed the three Maze Runner movies so has previous form with action and deploys resources well in setting up several high energy sequences from the attack on the camp to the already well known chase across long grass that featured in the trailers. There’s a dramatic scene near the end that mixes water and apes with admirable chaos.

With less dialogue than most movies and much of it necessarily simplistic, the film still manages to engage the viewer in between the action. With sweeping panoramic landscapes, vast horizons of the kind you might expect in a Western and plenty of detail of the ape’s way of life it creates a vivid picture of a future where human endeavour is now only represented by faded books, decrepit buildings, carcasses of ships run aground and incongruous items like the large telescope the party find. Some scenes are wordless as we see Noa exploring the world beyond his village. The tussle between nature and civilisation has never looked so interesting as it does in these wide screen moments.

Yet there’s as much intimate stuff to enjoy. The ape’s faces are reproducing the expressions of the actors hence are immensely more flexible than the rubber masks used in the Seventies movies allowing for a much deeper understanding from the viewer as to what they are thinking or feeling. What’s also very impressive is the way that real ape traits are mixed with the more developed aspects of these primates. There's also an intriguing connection between the apes and eagles.

The film takes its time to get where its going, setting a steady pace that reminds me of older movies where not every moment had to be chocked full of action and urgency. Admittedly some may find this a little wearing but it all ties together very well by the end. I’d say the only weaker aspect is the plot which never really matches the visuals or the acting and makes some predictable moves to the extent that I correctly predicted the final half hour before it happened. Even so this is a cinematic achievement best seen in, yes, a cinema!