Apes together aren’t strong enough to resist the clichés of the hero’s journey
KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES invites viewers back to a world where human hubris has seen the species fall while simultaneously helping our successors, the apes, to rise. Set generations after Caesar’s era, the film follows Noa (Owen Teague), a young chimp of the Eagle Clan, as he embarks on a perilous journey to retrieve a sacred eagle egg. His mission takes a dark turn when he encounters Mae (Freya Allan), a mysterious human, leading to the destruction of his village by the villainous Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand). As Noa and Mae struggle to survive Proximus’ tyrannical rule, they encounter diverse allies, including the wise orangutan Raka (Peter Macon) and scholarly collaborator Trevathan (William H Macy).
By this point, it’s hardly a surprise that the movie’s visuals are nothing short of stunning. The cinematography balances epic landscapes with state-of-the-art motion capture CGI, giving the apes an emotional and physical authenticity that’s all too easy to take for granted and overlook the skill of the actors and artists involved in bringing it all to life.
So, in the context of the broader PLANET OF THE APES series, KINGDOM OF… stands amongst the very best as far as visuals go, but when it comes to themes and stories it’s a little less assured. At the core of the problem is that, thematically, the most resonant subtext is that of a movie studio wanting another few bites of the banana. There’s an undeniably formulaic structure at work here, with a peaceful tribe assaulted by a neighbouring belligerent kingdom, leaving a sole survivor to embark on a quest to rescue his people, collecting allies and adversaries along the way and growing into his destiny. Arguably it’s the first APES movie that could easily not be about apes without having to change much at all.
From its inception, the PLANET OF THE APES series has been rich with allegories. The original 1968 film commented on the civil rights movement, nuclear annihilation, and human arrogance. BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES delved further into the horrors of war and the destructiveness of human nature, while ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES doubled down on tackling themes of fear and prejudice. The prequel series, starting with RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES explored scientific ethics and animal rights, while DAWN OF… and WAR FOR… focused on the nature of conflict, leadership and the seeming impossibility of peace amidst fear and hatred. KINGDOM OF… doesn’t really have anything to add to this rich thematic stew, nor does it really have anything new to say. What it does want to do is rearrange the pieces on the board from where WAR FOR… left them to create room for a new trilogy to take root, albeit in a somewhat generic fashion. The “many generations later” time jump which kicks of KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES robs the film of much of the emotional complexity that had built up around the original Caesar and his descendants.
Where KINGDOM OF… feels particularly weak is in its characterisation. There’s no room for ambiguity or subtlety in any of the characters. Everything is very black and white: the good apes are good; the bad apes are very bad. It’s a simplistic polarisation that itself, in the hands of a better script, could have given the film something new and pertinent to say about the times we live in but here its reduced to children’s fairy tale simplicity of heroic youth versus evil ruler. It does attempt to examine the cyclical nature of violence and the struggle between pacifism and aggression, questioning whether true peace is attainable or if conflict is an inevitable part of existence yet falls short of offering any kind of conclusion, preferring – when push comes to shove – to go for the crowd-pleasing popcorn moments of violence and revenge without much of a thought for the emotional and ethical aftermath.
Ultimately, KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is a solid addition to a franchise whose startlingly simple premise continues to entertain and entrance cinema audiences across seven decades and counting and while it doesn’t reach the dazzling heights of some of its predecessors, it doesn’t plum the desperate depths of the last 10 minutes or so of 2001’s PLANET OF THE APES (the only genuine reboot in the entire franchise). It honours the legacy of past films while attempting to move the story forward in a way that ensuring the franchise remains more thought-provoking and relevant than any of its cinematic rivals.

