“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” was released May 8 and it takes place around 300 years after the previous movie “War for the Planet of the Apes.” There are all new characters in this film, the main characters being Noa, Proximus Caesar and Raka — these are the main monkeys in the film with Mae being the main human character in the film. In the movie, apes have formed clans and broken apart since the previous movie. Noa has to embark on a journey to rescue his abducted clan. Noa teams up with Mae along his journey to determine the fate of both apes and humans.
I like how the characters developed throughout the movie. Noah, the main character, went through a big change throughout the movie. At the beginning, he was very unsure about himself, but throughout the movie he showed and became a very strong leader. Owen Teague, the actor who played Noah, did a very great job showing this transformation. It was very cool how he faced challenges and grew from them. Mae (Freya Allan) started off as mysterious, but as the movie went on, we got to see more of who she really was. Her character added a lot of depth to the story. Raka (Peter Macon) was very wise and helpful to Noa throughout the movie and reminds me of Maurice from the previous films. I liked how his character was played in terms of how he was a guide for Noa. The final character is Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) who brought a whole different dynamic to the movie as a strong leader with his own plans and goals.
Visually, “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” was stunning. The great visual effects bring the world to life in vivid detail. From crazy landscapes to intense action sequences, every frame drew viewers into the post apocalyptic world. The action scenes were very heart racing and adrenaline fueled, keeping the audiences on the edge of their seats throughout the movie. The movie really shows you what it would look like if humans became primal again and something else advanced and took their place. I really like how the movie looks and especially how advanced the monkeys look in the movie as well. The motion capture technology is very good and it is very hard to tell the difference between a real life monkey and a monkey in the movie, as it looks so realistic.
I enjoyed how the storyline is very engaging from the beginning to the end. There is no part of the movie that is boring or feels too long. Viewers are always engaged and focused on the movie. The cast played a huge role in this movie, as their acting was on another level.
Some aspects that I didn’t like about this movie is how it jumped 300 years into the future. I wished they could have continued the old story line a bit more and focused on Caesar’s kid in this movie and see how he developed as a leader. I don’t like how all the characters were just cut out and not further explored after “War for the Planet of the Apes.” With that, I wish they would have done a better job of introducing these characters more and showing where they came from and how they became leaders or what types of things they had to go through to get to this point of time. I also wished they showed you why apes split up in the movie into different clans instead of staying in one big group like the previous movies.
Overall “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is definitely a worthy addition to the iconic franchise. It shows you a whole new perspective and all new characters while still staying true to the previous movies. The storyline was great and the characters in it were even better. This movie is a must watch if you have seen the previous movies or even if you haven’t it still is a great movie.
“Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes:” ★★★★★
