The title might spark a bit of confusion — isn’t a kingdom invariably part of a planet? Nevertheless, such musings are perhaps trivial when plunged into a narrative realm where apes converse with eloquence and humanity has regressed to a primal silence. Such is the backdrop of Wes Ball’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” the 10th installment within the celebrated cinematic lineage of simian sovereignty. While the nomenclature might provoke a brow raise, its allegiance to the franchise nonetheless rings true.
Transporting the audience 300 years beyond the cataclysmic clash that sealed the fate of the revolutionary chimp Caesar, the film unfurls in an epoch where apes reign supreme and humankind barely sustains itself, reduced to voiceless scavengers. Civilization, as ever, is fraught with conflict; apes face dilemmas of power struggles and the desire for peace, much like their human predecessors.
Within this milieu, we encounter Noa, portrayed by Owen Teague, a member of the Eagle clan of chimpanzees. Alongside his companions Soona (Lydia Peckham) and Anaya (Travis Jeffery), Noa embarks on a hazardous quest to procure eagle eggs, symbolizing a coming-of-age. Their success, however, is overshadowed by the presence of a solitary human observer. Following a mishap in which Noa’s egg is shattered, he returns only to witness his village ablaze.
This calamity has been wrought by the followers of Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), a bonobo with messianic aspirations to accelerate evolution, harnessing forgotten human technologies to establish his dominion over the world. In this onslaught, Noa loses his father and clan chief, Koro (Neil Sandilands); his mother Dar (Sara Wiseman), Soona, and Anaya fall into captivity. Sworn to reclaim his family, Noa vows over his father’s remains to navigate a path of peril and revelation.
Embarking on this heroic crusade, Noa’s journey becomes one of introspection and historical awakening. His odyssey is marked by the acquisition of two unlikely allies: the sagacious orangutan Raka (Peter Macon) and Mae (Freya Allan), a human girl with her own veiled agenda. Endowed with the ability to speak, a rarity among her kind, Mae breaks the paradigm of human reticence prevalent in the film. Their dynamics are further enriched by characters like Trevathan (William H. Macy), a human defector imparting lessons of Roman history to Proximus, thus arming the uprising with strategic antiquity.
The film’s visual mastery is extraordinary, justifying the admission fee on its own merit. Heart-stopping actions jolt the viewer, bolstered by state-of-the-art CGI that lends the apes an unnervingly genuine presence. There’s an elegance in the portrayal of nature’s indomitable reclaim, as flora ensnares the once-proud monuments of human ingenuity, rendering locales such as LAX’s terminal, now Raka’s abode, and a desolate naval base evocative of some post-apocalyptic Angkor Wat. The enigmatic juxtaposition of decay and discovery is exemplified by a moss-clad observatory, its telescope obscured yet revelatory.
Wes Ball, renowned for his “Maze Runner” series (poised for a reboot), previously hesitated to craft a direct sequel to “War for the Planet of the Apes” (2017), the finale of the reboot trilogy chronicling Caesar’s exploits. Instead, he astutely embarks on a fresh trilogy with “Kingdom…,” offering a narrative conduit from Caesar’s impactful saga to the seminal 1968 film “Planet of the Apes,” with Charlton Heston at the helm. From Pierre Boulle’s 1963 satirical sci-fi novel “La Planète des Singes,” which informed the original film and tapped into the zeitgeist of the Cold War, to this latest incarnation, the enduring franchise continues to meld gripping spectacle with philosophical musing.
In a cinema where cerebral resonance is often sacrificed at the altar of spectacle, “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” emerges triumphant, serving both ambition and introspection, an alchemy of action and ethical inquiry. The promise of further escapades with Mae, Noa, and their motley troupe, bolstered by awe-inspiring CGI and breathtaking stunts, leaves audiences in fervent anticipation. Now playing in theatres, this chapter of world cinema not only celebrates English moviemaking but stands as a testament to the power of narrative evolution.
