Movie Review - Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

 

Just when you think the revival/reboot trilogy is over, Disney then announce that following its buy of various Fox assets, they would then announce that more films are being made. Thus, it's no longer a trilogy anymore, but a saga or for now, a quadrilogy with a TV series idea also potentially working out. Said to be the best of the revival films and the franchise overall, it would be interesting to see how a new film plays out and hopefully, its sequels will not go the way that many revival trilogies of long-established franchises have gone. Ape are together strong after all and so are we humans. Let's take a look:

Many generations later following War, the apes have formed numerous clans while what's left of the humans, have become feral somewhat. A trio of young apes, prepare for a coming of age ceremony by collecting eagle eggs. All seems well, until, interference from a human, causes one of the eggs to crack. Noa (played by Owen Teague), the ape whose egg has cracked, desperately tries to find another one. Until a group of ape raiders, using electric weapons, invades and captures his clan. Desperate to save them, he sets out to find and free his clan from so-called believers of Ceaser with the help of a true follower of his called Raka (played by Peter Macon) and the human he encountered earlier (played by Freya Allan) who has an agenda of her own.

A lot of people have been saying that this is the best of the revival series so far, and I agree, but not completely. The reasons for that are because while it is a visual spectacle and leaves a lot to be desired, there is a lot of explaining, a lot of quiet moments and at times when you think something is about to go down, it does so in a way that you wouldn't expect. But can be a little bit illogical in places. Having said that, I like the new characters, I like the idea of apes being in clans and I like the idea that humans have become feral as a result of the virus that the last 3 films explained a great deal about. I was also surprised by the ending which I won't spoil, and I feel satisfied that this is almost exactly the film I was expecting to see next after War and I look forward to seeing where Disney will take it, going forward. 8/10