Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

A slow journey of a story, which always likes to stop just long enough to introduce a new culture, show a few of its customs, and then unleash an archetypal battle that is never black and white. The effects are just as stunning as we have grown to expect from Planet of the Apes. Thanks to this, the ever so delicately guided humanistic storylines leave even more of an impact, especially since the promises of future events play out casually in the background. A clever blockbuster in that mood I will never stop seeking. (06/14/2024)

A script that could easily have taken 100 minutes of running time. At least in the first third of the film, the heroes are sometimes groping in a breathtakingly made visual arrangement full of crumbled skyscrapers in an overgrown jungle, and it takes a hell of a long time before it starts to have any momentum and any systematic direction in which the new Apes want to go. The umpteenth sequel, which thankfully doesn't degrade in the style of Fast and Furious and other similar mega-sagas, but still maintains a spare, relatively minimalist storyline and very reasonable action that doesn't come at the expense of storytelling. The ending got it moving solidly, but it lacked top speed. Plus, in some moments, the filmmakers took strong inspiration from recent contributions to the Mad Max franchise. (07/12/2024)

Old school = wandering through the collapse and ruins of civilisation with a fine atmosphere and rather likeable characters, but they barely manage to fill up the film’s 144 minutes, which is objectively twice as much time as the plot needed. Visually, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is a very nice film that will please people who love the Rise of the Planet of the Apes with its intimate setting and emphasis on minimalistic action. But Noa isn’t Caesar and, unlike Reeves, Ball isn’t enough of a baller to give Kingdom that special apocalyptic touch that Dawn of the Planet of the Apes had. Overall, however, this is a respectable contribution to the canon. It’s just a shame that the ending rather promises a variation on the original trilogy with a somewhat less charismatic protagonist. (05/09/2024)

I'm going to say it, and I'm surprised myself. Even though I'm an old boomer who grew up on the first Planet of the Apes from the late 60s, and even though I'm not a fan of the CGI serendipity of today, the direction that Rupert Wyatt took 13 years ago, Matt Reeves continued, and now Wes Ball has followed up on, is very much to my liking. While the old Apes from the 70s was becoming a ridiculous parody of itself (and an ugly one at that) episode by episode (except for the legendary first one), and Tim Burton didn't take to it happily later on either, so the current tetralogy is beautifully paced, looks beautiful, makes logical sense in how the apes evolve and take over, and the current installment is such a natural evolution in the plot that the cards are already clearly dealt. It makes me happy that in this day and age we have a film franchise that has great references and works well, which is not the norm in contemporary Hollywood, where "rhyming" is done at the top of its lungs and it usually turns out badly. (05/08/2024)

I don't see any major differences in the direction and I don't trust Wes Ball much, but for me it's another sheer blockbuster spectacle that meets the highest criteria, it's setting itself up for another excellent Trilogy (there aren't many of those in the works right now) and it will definitely be in the top 5 among blockbusters this year. Plot-wise, I like it better, the apes are in control and the humans will gradually fight to take over. The new hero Noah is likable, Freya Allan is adorable and acts great (another female star looms here), Proximus is a solid villain, visually it's a VFX gem! The action scenes have drive, tension, emotion and a thick atmosphere, in fact I was almost breathless during every scene, it's that gripping (the home invasion one was almost horror) and the whole grand finale has the necessary gusto. 100% immersion in the story with a world that still has something to offer. 85% (05/09/2024)