With awe-inspiring visuals, breath taking action sequences, uncanny CGI and underlying smarts, this prequel/sequel is a worthy addition to the canon
see a human lurking about. When Noa’s egg is broken, he decides to go back for another and returns to nd his village in ¤ames.
The village has been attacked by apes who follow Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), a bonobo who wants to speed up evolution, nd human technology and rule the world. Noa’s father Koro (Neil Sandilands), the chief of the clan, is killed, while his mother Dar (Sara Wiseman), Soona and Anaya have been taken prisoner. Noa makes a promise over Koro’s corpse that he will nd his family.
Noa sets o on a quest, learning and questioning things about his history, that he had taken for granted. Along the way, he acquires two companions — a wise orangutan Raka (Peter Macon) and a human girl Mae (Freya Allan) who has plans of her own. While most humans do not speak, there are some that do, including Trevathan (William H. Macy), who has gone over to the other side, teaching Proximus Roman history.
The gob-smacker visuals of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes alone are worth the price of the ticket. Then there are breath-stopping action sequences, with gravity-defying leaps and incredible CGI, which makes the apes uncannily real. There is something awe-inspiring about the way Nature reclaims her own, draping the once-proud glass and steel edi ces with plants and creepers. The terminal at LA◣, where Raka lives, and the deserted naval base with the skeletons of so many massive battleships looks like a post-apocalyptic Angkor Wat. The moss-festooned telescope at the observatory simultaneously obscures and shines a light.
Ball, who made the super-popular Maze Runner movies, which is getting a reboot (why?), was reluctant to make a direct sequel to War for the Planet of the Apes. The 2017 movie was the concluding lm of the reboot trilogy telling Caesar’s (Andy Serkis), story which started with Rise of the Planet of the Apes in 2011, followed by Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014).
With Kingdom… Ball has been wise to start a new trilogy, which acts as a bridge between Caesar’s story arc and the original Planet of the Apes starring
Charlton Heston from 1968. While French novelist, Pierre Boulle used the concerns of the Cold War for his sci- satire La Planète des Singes in 1963, that Planet of the Apes is based on, 10 movies and innumerable iterations in dierent media later, the concerns are still the same.
When a movie wows one with action and adventure and also makes one think, it is a winner all the way. Now all we have to do is wait for further adventures of Mae, Noa and friends backed by mind-blowing CGI and stunts.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is currently running in theatres