Aside from their hilariously clunky titles, the rebooted Planet of the Apes series has repeatedly delivered while surprising me in a number of ways. Going back to the first film, 2011’s “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”, the series has told thematically rich and emotionally impactful stories to go along with state-of-the-art motion capture and visual effects. So I was expecting more of the same with the long-awaited fourth installment, “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes”.
Directed by Wes Ball, “Kingdom” is a standalone sequel to 2017’s “War for the Planet of the Apes”. Its story takes place 300 years after “War”, but the DNA of the previous three films can be seen all throughout it. Unfortunately the execution doesn’t quite live up to its predecessors. To no surprise “Kingdom” looks great and it hits a few good emotional beats. But it struggles mightily to capture the vision and narrative breadth of the Caesar trilogy.
The issues with “Kingdom” grow more evident over time. First, it’s incredibly slow developing and it takes a long time for the story to gain any traction. That’s made worse by the fact that the movie is far longer than it needs to be. We tread a lot of familiar ground in the arduous 145 minutes which leads to another issue – “Kingdom” has a tough time distinguishing itself, not just from the other three Apes movies, but from other dystopian sci-fi adventures. It walks its own path but utilizes a few too many formulas to get where its going.
Set generations after the death of Caesar, apes have become the dominant species while humans are considered wild and untamed. A young chimpanzee named Noa (Owen Teague) is part of an ape clan devoted to nurturing and training eagles. While out collecting an eagle egg as part of his coming-of-age ritual, Noa witnesses a party of raiders, led by a foreboding gorilla named Sylva (Eka Danville), heading towards his village. Worried, Noa rushes home to find his village under siege.
Sylva attacks Noa and leaves him for the dead in the ashes of his village. But Noa survives and when he wakes he finds his father dead and his clan abducted. Heartbroken and driven, Noa sets out to find and rescue his clan. On his journey he crosses paths with Raka (Peter Macon), an erudite orangutan who is faithful to Caesar’s teachings. Raka begins to enlighten Noa on Caesar’s message of peaceful coexistence, especially after noticing they’re being watched by a human girl who they name Nova (Freya Allan).
After saving Nova from another roundup by Sylva, the girl reveals that she can speak. She tells them that Noa’s clan has been taken to a coastal settlement ran by an ape monarch named Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand). We learn Proximus is obsessed with a heavily sealed vault that he believes contains old human tech. His zeal has led him to abduct and enslave several ape clans, forcing them to work on opening the vault. As you can probably guess, Noa’s journey leads to a clash with Proximus which is both inevitable and surprisingly unremarkable.
Unremarkable best describes “Kingdom”. There’s nothing glaringly bad about the film. It just never comes close to the thrilling or emotional highs of its predecessors. Neither Noa or Nova are especially compelling, and (judging by the ending) the film seems too focused on setting up yet another Apes trilogy. But perhaps most discouraging is how dull the movie can be. There is plenty of fat that could have been trimmed to make this a tighter and more riveting experience. As it is, “Kingdom” will sit as a serviceable but rather prosaic early summer feature.
VERDICT – 2.5 STARS
Keith & the Movies 
Hmm that doesn’t sound hopeful.
It’s not terrible. But as a fan of the previous three movies, this one just didn’t have it.
I think I’ll wait for this on Hulu/Disney+ though I’m glad they do have the entire POTA franchise for me to catch up on as I do love the most recent trilogy. I just need to re-watch the first 2 films and then the rest of that franchise from the 1970s. However, I will not re-watch Tim Burton’s remake as I fucking hate that movie.
I’ve really enjoyed this latest Apes run. Sadly this one doesn’t meet the standards of the Caesar trilogy.
A great review. I do appreciate that fact that you were honest in the review. I’ve heard nothing but praise for this movie. I am still looking forward to watching this as a big fan of the original POTA series. Andy Serkis set such a high standard for motion capture technology with those movies. I’m curious to see how this film would turn out in his absence.
I love the second film in the Planet of the Apes trilogy the most. Here’s my views on that film:
The Caesar Trilogy did indeed set a high standard. If you’re a fan of those you should still see this one. But is by far the weakest of the series IMO.
I Think Freya Allan would be great choice as Princess Zelda In The Legend of Zelda: live-action
My 10 year old daughter picked this movie for our dad/daughter outing (she’s into everything PotA, Kong, and Godzilla). We both thoroughly enjoyed it, the visuals were awesome and the extended fight scenes were epic. I didn’t expect more than a showcase of the apes so I wasn’t disappointed but the story was quite cookie cutter and there were so many questions about why some of the characters were taking the paths they took. I get the “enemy of my enemy is my friend” but even that seemed to derail to me.
I fell in a similar spot with the story. I really liked the previous three, and didn’t hate this one. But this one didn’t grab me quite like before. Looking forward to giving it another try.
Great review, movie never met my expectations started out slow and picked up to more slow progress. Touched on too many ideas without ever choosing where to go. Worn out unmaintained broken down tech that still works despite decaying for more than 300 years. Not credible,
I get what you’re saying. There were a lot of little details that seemed to be bypassed. Just didn’t meld together like the other films have.
crap
Bring Ceasar back period?
hi
Good review. No way the apes haven’t advanced more in 300 years with all the remnants of technology around. This series is almost too divorced from the Caesar series. As you said, not bad but unremarkable. They missed an opportunity to show an interesting civilization that is more developed and has its own problems now, and still could have incorporated a similar story around the humans.
As a huge fan of the original 5 and the most recent Caesar trilogy, I was hoping this would be very interesting continuation of that world. I didn’t mind the slow build and did appreciate the brief funeral for Caesar but the story failed to go to where I was hoping it would go. Plus it failed on things that would have made sense like building on Caesars mythic story that Maurice promised to right down .It would have been cool if it had developed into kinda of 2 tribes . One that corrupted his teachings and one that preserved. Plus Noah just wasn’t that compelling and neither was Proximus . Plus “Nova” and the whole human angle here disappointed me . So many unanswered questions . My favorite character was Raka the orangutan. His insights to Caesar should have been a much bigger role . I was so frustrated with his character being killed off.Plus the climax and fight between Noah and Proximus was anti climatic really. It did set itself up to another movie but it sets itself up to another rehash of a conflict between apes and humans . At the end of it all , it lacked the heart and depth of the Caesars story. That’s where they messed up in my view. I would give it a 6 but it kinda let me down.
You make some really solid points. The story had so many compelling directions it could have went but didn’t. And I had a hard time investing in the characters. And I agree about Raka. Offing him was a mistake.
the movie industry has sunk into a giant recession of feces. Have to say Apes was not as bad as many of the crappy releases. However it did not seem to go anywhere except preparing you for another sequel. I’m old and I read the reviews on rotten eggs now I realize I don’t understand the thought or lack of by the new generation. Statements like it was deeply emotional lol
they need to make a reboot of the 1968 planet of the apes. It would be far more interesting. People would have able to see Cornelius grow up
they could have developed a scenario that was initiated in rise of the planet of the apes and have those astronauts return to the earth to discover the planet was ruled by apes. The kingdom of the planet of the apes was so boring I fell asleep. Big disappointment.
I was really hoping for more myself.