A week ago, we spoke to Cobra Kai: Season 6 star Brandon H. Lee on embracing his role as Kwon, working with some of the original cast members, and what we can see from him in future fights. Check out the full interview on Youtube! (link below)
I think many will be with me when I say I was skeptical about this film, even after the trailers dropped. The Matt Reeves trilogy ended perfectly, and all I could think of as the primary need for a fourth film set in this universe was simply money. However, after attending an early screening of the movie, I can finally answer the question—are the apes still together strong? The answer to this is yes—and no. While this might be somewhat of a decent film, it doesn’t really bring anything new to the franchise and sends the future of it in a direction where it will continue to be this way.
From the get-go, this film doesn’t really impress me much. Our protagonist, Noah, while justified and given a decent amount of insight, doesn’t engage me as much as Caesar did—purely because the story he goes on is somewhat similar to Caesar’s in ‘Dawn’ (the second movie of the Reeves trilogy), where apes who want to be the dominating force don’t compromise with humans and are forced to fight each other. This film, in hindsight, follows a familiar trajectory in terms of its narrative too—not bringing anything new to the table. At least in ‘Dawn,’ this aspect of the apes’ nature was kept unrevealed to add some unpredictability to the story, but in this latest installment, I could predict the film and how it would play out from the first act onwards—especially since it borrows some generic tropes from action/adventure movies. Arguably, the only original aspect about this film (and the smartest element the writing offers) is that it tries to involve Caesar’s legacy within the narrative, exploring what a world of apes would look like if his messages were forgotten and not passed on. Though, I personally think this aspect of the film isn’t explored to the best extent, and how it is explored can feel underwhelming at times, especially when some humanly stakes come into play, as it jumbles the story in the 3rd act.
The movie’s main antagonist, Proximus Caesar, is arguably the weakest aspect of this movie, though Kevin Durand does a pretty solid job in the role. As for the character as a whole, his motivations are very weak and aren’t far off from Koba’s in ‘Dawn.’ Plus, we don’t really see enough of him to label him as a ‘high stakes’ villain.
However, what prevents me from dropping the score is the fact that the film can provide a good time at the cinema. There are only a few holes in the narrative, as well as the character logic, which makes this film far from dumb. It’s happening for the 2-hour 25-minute runtime (despite its longevity being felt at certain points) to keep people invested, even though some of this was unoriginal. It has some emotional beats and some hints of clever writing (as mentioned earlier with its integration of Caesar’s legacy), which add to the enjoyability of this movie as a whole, making it stand as something well-made overall. The aspect I’m most concerned about, though, is the film’s ending, as it potentially brings the franchise back to a point where future films might be even more unoriginal because it will be the same conflicts over and over again (if you’ve seen the film, you’ll know what I mean).
Other aspects that keep my score relatively high are the visuals and performances. I think the cast does a fantastic job, even though Freya Allen’s casting can be slightly questionable due to her not fitting the nature of the character she is playing at times. However, she still does a good job. Visually, this is the best the ‘POTA’ franchise has ever been. It’s awe-inspiring to watch this in IMAX, and I would say see it in cinemas for this reason, as it definitely elevates the watch.
Ultimately, ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ is a decent but flawed watch. It’s not stupid and plays it safe when it comes to its narrative structure—but fails at creating something original for both its genre and franchise—and doesn’t put the ‘POTA’ series in a place where it can break free from this in future installments by the movie’s end.
OVERALL SCORE: 6.8/10 - PASSABLE (BUT FUN!)
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