20th Century Studios “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” – Maggie’s Review
In theaters now is “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” the latest installment in the “Planet of the Apes” reboot. Directed by Wes Ball, and starring Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon and William H. Macy, “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” takes place many generations after the last film.
The film opens on three chimps, Noa (Owen Teague), Soona and Anaya searching among eagles’ nests for eggs that will hatch into their companions. Noa’s clan bond with eagles, and his father mentors Noa to sing to the eagles. When a human appears in their home, crushing Noa’s egg, he leaves the village to find another egg before the morning. He comes upon a massacre of other chimps by gorillas, and unwittingly leads the attackers back to his home. After the destruction of his village, murder of his father and abduction of his clan, Noa follows the attackers into forbidden territory. On his journey, he is joined by an orangutan, Raka (Peter Macon), and a human, Mae (Freya Allan). Raka tells him of Caesar, a chimp who once united apes and humans, but whose teachings have been twisted by the gorillas that destroyed Noa’s village.
Watching this movie was a very odd experience. First, the CGI of the apes is most successful from a distance or in stills, however the film spends a lot of time in tight shots of the apes faces in conversation. Since there are only one, or sometimes two, human characters on screen at a time, much of “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is an uncanny valley nightmare. The oddest CGI choice was to give the chimps, that in nature have brown eyes with black or dark sclera, blue or green eyes with whites around the iris.
I will also admit my own error: this was the first “Planet of the Apes” movie I have seen, and it became apparent after the first fifteen minutes or so that I had missed quite a bit in the first three reboot films. I imagined it would be like seeing “Thor” without “Iron Man” or “Captain America”: understandable and enjoyable, but with some missed references or Easter eggs. “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” was a very different experience. Although it takes place “many generations” after the death of Caesar, this film relies heavily on the audience knowing the previous films. If you, like me, haven’t seen or don’t remember well the first three films in the reboot series, you will probably be as confused as I was.
Confusion aside, “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” was only alright. At two and a half hours, it has a sort of plodding pace, and doesn’t have a very clear directive until the third act. The first hour and half give a vague sense of what Noa’s goal is (find his clan), but not much of an idea of how he will free them or why the gorillas are at odds with the other apes to start with. Mae is a mostly silent character whose motivations are not clear until spelled out in the last few minutes, making her a mostly inscrutable and uninteresting force in the film.
I can’t say I recommend seeing “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” especially if you aren’t well versed in the previous films. But nevertheless, it is in theaters now.
