Jonah Naplan May 10, 2024
Apes are naturally sympathetic creatures, and have been since their very first appearances on the silver screen. Even Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” couldn’t entirely succeed in depicting them as mysterious because they’re so human. The “Planet of the Apes” franchise, the recent trilogy in particular, has made no effort to hide this, presenting us characters who don’t just feel human because they can speak our language, create hierarchies of power, and relate to one another as lovers, allies or enemies, but because they give the distinct aura of people we know and love, or even our own selves. Director Wes Ball’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” continues this tradition in all the right ways, examining how a tribe of lost souls looks up to a folk hero from generations ago. Caesar has become a sort of idol, but, like some of our own heroes, bad people have twisted his famous words for new causes that completely detract from their original meaning. Society in “Kingdom” feels like a highly abstract version of our own, but still not that far off from it, either.
The movie follows Noa (Owen Teague), a young chimpanzee who lives in seclusion in the tight knit Eagle Clan, along with Anaya (Travis Jeffery), and Soona (Lydia Peckham). Our adventure begins with the trio climbing trees to search for an eagle egg for the each of them, a clan tradition with deep roots. After a breathless close call that nearly costs Noa his life, he returns home with an egg that will eventually grow into a bird that he’ll train and bond with into his adult life. But after a series of unlikely events, including the arrival of an unexpected human visitor, Mae (Freya Allan), Noa’s egg shatters, and he goes off on a quest for a new one, neglecting to be there for his village when Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) and his army of masked apes attack and set fire to everything, capturing his tribe members and killing his father—a master bird communicator—in the act.
The rest of “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is a wandering tale about one ape’s journey to bring his family members back home and possibly gain a little bit of vengeance along the way. His travels cross paths with a friendly but wise orangutan named Raka (Peter Macon) as well as Mae, who seems to be following Noa but hides her face whenever confronted. These middle sequences are patient and slow, possibly to a superfluous extreme, but they still work well because Ball and cinematographer Gyula Pados (who was DOP on both of the recent “Jumanji” movies) have created a wondrous landscape of forests, marshes, and oceans that intrigues you equally as much with the setting as it does the characters. Comparisons have been rightfully drawn to James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water,” another such sequel with a strong visual language that assists in building out this world of intelligent specimens through gorgeous, surrealistic imagery.
In a different mode from the prior franchise entries—Rupert Wyatt’s “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” and Matt Reeves’ sequels “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” and “War for the Planet of the Apes,” all excellent—this is a movie less concerned with action than it is with big emotions and the development of new characters, which is especially important given that some people may find it hard to resonate with a movie that has few humans and instead centers on furry beings who only mildly resemble our kind physically. “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is probably the weakest out of these four outings but that’s only because it doesn’t exactly have the strong, structured backing to bounce off of from the other three. Regardless, what it’s able to accomplish on a visceral as well as emotional level is impressive, and the thoughtful foray into what our planet could look and feel like generations from now is a fascinating idea.
By one point or another, Noa ends up in the captivity of Proximus at a huge oceanside empire along with hundreds of other enslaved apes, sequences in which Proximus proves himself to not just be a dictator but a fascist; every morning he assembles his slaves and chants “What a wonderful day!” in a booming voice as laborers wince and grimace in attempts to open a mysterious chamber that seemingly won’t budge no matter how hard they try. Also on this island is Trevathan (played by William H. Macy in his second obscure role after “Ricky Stanicky” from two months ago), the only other spotlighted human in this film who’s hopelessly responsible for teaching Proximus everything about the ways of man. His role is one of this movie’s bizarrest parts; only there to deliver exposition before departing shortly afterwards.
About half of “Kingdom” takes place on this island reserve, as the movie unpacks its themes about independence, justice, and human bonds, because, well, you know, the apes are basically humans. There’s little prolonged action until around the last twenty-five minutes, and when it finally does arrive, it’s powerful because we can see glimpses of a new franchise leader in Noa who could potentially pave the way for many more adventures to come. The good thing is that writer Josh Friedman doesn’t deliberately set up “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” to be a franchise catalyst, so the movie allows itself the privations of luxuriating in spectacle and the beautiful here and now. Scenes seem to exist only to service the film we are currently watching rather than to set up future events and ideas, which is wholly consistent with the magic of the others.
“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is the best at combining human elements with pieces of an earthly puzzle we haven’t yet satisfied as a society because we haven’t even gotten there yet. Ball fills out each frame with something interesting and/or thought provoking, elevating these settings to personification, but there’s still something mysterious and foreboding about the dystopia of it all. In the world of Caesar’s conquest, humans were rendered unable to speak, so it’s haunting to imagine, all these many generations later, what the state of humanity is outside of the limited spheres we get to see in “Kingdom.” The truth is that in the grand scheme of blockbusters, this is a relatively simple and uneventful one, and there’s not a whole lot to be written about in terms of narrative complexion or performance. Its intrigue comes from the visceral experience you get while watching it, likely falling somewhere within the category of emotional tranquility or something else you can’t quite put your finger on. But that’s the magic. It makes you wonder and it’s entertaining. Rarely do we get a good blockbuster that can achieve both.
Now playing in theaters.