KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

US, 2024, 145 minutes, Colour.

Owen Teague, Travis Jeffrey, Freya Allen, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, William H.Macy.

Directed by Wes Ball.

After a very successful trilogy during the 2010s, here is the beginning of a new trilogy. And, 21^st-century audiences seem to have taken very favourably to Planet of the Apes films. This is the 10^th.

However, for those of us who were watching films in 1968, the impact of the original Planet of the Apes was unexpectedly powerful. We went on a journey into strange world of intelligent apes with Charlton Heston, and, with him, to be rather overwhelmed by the final discovery of where the planet actually was. Then there were five perhaps rather ordinary sequels, with titles like Conquest, Battle, Escape… And Tim Burton ventured on a remake with the original title in 2001, not so well received. But, the trilogy of the 2010s, Rise, Dawn, War… with its focus on the commanding ape leader, Caesar, performed by Andy Serkis, reinvigorated interest.

This film is very long. Some have complained that there is not enough action, too much serious reflection! On the other hand, most have been impressed with the re-creation of this ape world, opening in a small village rather than in the kingdom, information given that humans have created a virus long since which has affected the apes and enhanced their intelligence and had an overpoweringly harmful effect on the humans. These apes are great climbers, protectors of eagles and cherishing eggs from their nests. (And the climbing will have great significance in the final action.)

And, director, Wes Ball, says he was influenced by Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto, the impact of the conquistadors on the local Mexicans. So, this is a story of the abduction of the villagers after an attack by giant marauding apes to become part of a huge kingdom by the sea, establishing life in the village, a sympathetic view, and the rise of a lone hero, Noa (Owen Teague), who witnesses the defeat and capture, but then goes on a quest, accompanied by an intelligent human, Mae (Freya Allen) who is something of a mystery to the apes but has strong motivations of her own. Noa is taught wisdom by benign giant ape Raka (Peter Macon) and, at first trusted by Proximus (Kevin Durand), the leader of the dominating apes, collaborate with Mae, discover the remnants, still active, of giant military installations..

Yes, there will be a revolution combining the apes’ intelligence, lost human technological powers, an interesting view appearance from William H Macy as a retired intellectual, and then the uprising, the combat, the ingenuity, and a wonderful range of special effects.

For most audiences, enjoyable, interesting, and quite a deal to reflect on.

1. The 10^th film? 56 years after the original? The initial impact, the creativity of the world of the apes, the place of the humans, and the discovery of where the planet actually was?
2. The franchise in the 21^st-century, the trilogy with Caesar? This beginning of a new trilogy?
3. The opening explanations, the virus and its spread, the effect on the apes and their intelligence, the decline of the humans? The different cultures of the apes? Caesar and his leadership, law, heritage? Small villages? Proxima’s and his attempt at a kingdom?
4. The opening, the three apes, the Eagles, the quest for the eggs, the care for the Eagles? Noah and his climbing abilities? His relationship with the other two? The return down, Noah and his parents? Respect for the law? The lifestyle? The glimpse of the human and the impact?
5. The invasion, the cruelty, deaths, the breaking of the eggs? Noah, his parents? And the abduction of the villagers? His being left behind, his decision to search for them? The encounter with the human, tentative, suspicions, communication, the mystery about the woman, the revelation of her name, Mae?
6. The range of scenery throughout the film, the mountains and trees of the village, the open plains, desert, the coast?
7. The encounter with Raka, size, benign, age and wisdom, the Heritage of Caesar? Instructing Noah? The response to Mae? The travels together, a genial journey? The attack, the death of A rocker?
8. Proxima’s, large, crown, the henge apes, the brutality? The capture?
9. The ambitions for the kingdom by the sea, the range of captured tribes, imprisoned, the atmosphere of the sea and its turbulence, the wall breaking the flood, the remnants of human technology? Telescope and Noah’s fascination? Proxima’s and his using Noah? The technology to break down the rampart of the installation?
10. Macy, the human presence, his room, the books, his acceptance of the situation, his advice to Noah and to Mae?
11. May, revealing more of her background, enlisting Noah to help, the infiltration into the installation, its vastness, her turning on the power, Macy and his warnings against an uprising?
12. The revolution, the oppression, Mae and her success with the installation, the contact with the humans, the fact that there could be a revival of human intelligence?
13. The final battle sequence, Noah and the confrontation was Proxima’s? May and her interventions? The dilemma is, the destruction of the sea wall, the flooding, the apes and their abilities to climb, the final steep climb to safety?
14. The destruction of the kingdom? At the opening to what would happen to the villages and their escape, the return home…?