Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, the first movie in a newly announced trilogy of movies continues the story of where the final movie left viewers in suspense. The final moments saw the beloved Caesar die beside his good friend Maurice, just as all of ape kind earned their freedom. It was a bittersweet end to an excellent series of movies which pushed motion-capture to limits and overall movie making to new heights.
The new film opens up, generations later with a group of apes living peacefully in their day-to-day lives. That is until warriors from another tribe arrive and turn their world upside down. The story follows a young chimpanzee Noa on his quest to rescue his tribe and eventually the futures of the human and ape kid for ever. The story also follows a human named Mae, or Nova as she is called by Noa and Raka, an intelligent orangutan who lives a life of solitude, who has own agendas tucked away up her sleeve, and who is perhaps something else that doesn’t show on in the surface.
The film is about corruption of words, with Caesar becoming a mythical messiah whose teachings and philosophy have been rewritten and twisted as generations of apes have split in warring tribes and factions across the planet. The film is essentially a journey of self-discovery for Noa who must prove himself to be a capable leader who will define the odds and bring his people home. But for a while the narrative becomes a buddy-road-trip between Noa and Raka, with the pair slowly learning more about each other, and respecting each other for the values and traditions they stand for.
The film’s main weakness is: it’s not sure what’s it meant to be. Plot lines are introduced and change direction, the film changes narrative focus with its main characters, goals are achieved, and new ambitions are set down. It’s a film that lacks the integral focus of the previous three instalments, and one which is forced to be left open-ended for the next chapter to begin. The revelation of Mae and what her motivations [always] were is a nice sent-off and the hype for the next battle between humans and apes will no doubt have no resolution; which is only to be expected.
The highlights of the film are once again left on the big, broad shoulders of the motion-capture cast. A CGI animal with so much emotion and personality is a hard thing to pull off, and is achieved without Andy Serkis, the man who brought so many beloved motion-capture characters to life. The new-found actor and actress bring out all the stops in their performance, which will hopefully led to them gaining more prominent roles in their careers. Let’s hope we see more of Noa and his clan in the next instalment.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes continues the franchise forward in near light, where fans and movie goers don’t mind waiting years to see what lies ahead. But much like any other franchise it needs to continually introduce new elements.
Reviewed by Benedict
Comments