Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes - Review

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

I HAD my doubts as to whether a fourth film in the rebooted Planet of the Apes franchise - which began with Rise of the Planet of the Apes and concluded with the brilliant Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - was strictly necessary, given the emotionally satisfying conclusion that the similarly excellent War For The Planet of the Apes reached.

But while Wes Ball's Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes does occasionally feel superfluous, and struggles to reach the emotional heights of some of its predecessors, the film is nevertheless a surprisingly engaging affair, which maintains the intelligence of the films that have come before it.

Set many generations into the future, long after the events of War for the Planet of the Apes and the conclusion of the story of Caesar, the latest story follows young ape Noa (Owen Teague), son of the leader of a chimp clan that trains and hunts with eagles.

His ambition is to be a good son and potential leader to his clan - but his ambition is curtailed by the arrival of a brutal rival pack, led by Proximus (Kevin Durand), who wants to enslave apes in order to create a following large enough to break into a mountain vault, created by humans, which may provide the tools need to empower Proximus for years to come.

The ensuing takeover of Noa's clan involves the murder of his father, as well as the capture of his friends - leaving Noa alone to attempt a rescue.

But Noa soon finds allies in wise old orangutan scholar Raka (Peter Macon), a firm follower of Caesar's ideology about creating unity and peace among apes ("apes together... strong"), as well as young human Mae (Freya Allan) who, unlike most of her species, can speak, reason and plot against the ape oppressors.

The trio become unlikely allies, especially since Mae is probably operating under her own agenda, while Noa must decide between the competing ideals of Caesar's rule - as adopted by Raka or Proximus.

As ever with the Apes franchise, character and story are as important as action and special effects - but Ball maintains a firm grip over all components to create a richly involving, and often thought-provoking movie.

His film looks stunning, especially in its depiction of decaying buildings reclaimed by nature, while the set pieces are suitably rousing and exciting - brutal, where necessary, and exciting enough to make the fate of certain characters far from guaranteed.

Intellectually, the film also delivers on the terrific work done by both Franklin Schaffner's ground-breaking 1968 original (towards which, this film is clearly building) and the more recent films of Rupert Wyatt and Matt Reeves.

There is plenty of resonant observations on the nature of power and its ability to corrupt, of exploitation and tolerance, and man's uneasy relationship with nature.

And these themes are given extra weight by the strength of the performances, which continues to push the boundaries of what motion capture can achieve (Andy Serkis, who created Caesar so memorably, is on hand to oversee things here). It's a film powered, first and foremost, by performance, which enables viewers to invest emotionally (even if, like I previously mentioned, some of the outcomes don't hit as hard as the first three films in this rebooted franchise).

That being said, at four films in (and probably counting), to continue to exhibit this much brain, as well as brawn, is an achievement in itself... and one that makes the Apes franchise worthy of continued support from viewers, as well as deserved respect and admiration for what blockbuster and franchise cinema can achieve.