Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes - Review Thread
- Rotten Tomatoes: 85% (62 Reviews)
- Metacritic: 66 (28 Reviews)
Reviews:
Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes proves, without a doubt, that there is still life on this Planet with plenty room to grow. I am psyched for the next one.
Hollywood Reporter (80):
Josh Friedman’s smart screenplay takes its cue from its recent predecessors in reflecting the politics of its time. But the movie works equally well as pure popcorn entertainment, packing its two-and-a-half-hour running time with nail-biting thrills but also allowing sufficient breathing space to build depth in the characters and story.
Variety (70):
“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” invites us to embrace the drama of apes fighting apes. By the end, though, in what is in effect a teaser for the next sequel, it looks as if the franchise’s blowhard version of the human race will be back after all. That could be enough to make you want to escape from the planet of the apes.
The New York Times (80):
It probes how the act of co-opting idealisms and converting them to dogmas has occurred many times over. What’s more, it points directly at the immense danger of romanticizing the past, imagining that if we could only reclaim and reframe and resurrect history, our present problems would be solved.
IndieWire (B):
This is a far cry from the thrill-a-minute blockbuster that its early “summer” release date might lead you to expect (if the “Apes” franchise has always unfolded at a different register from the rest of its multiplex competition, that difference has never been more pronounced than it is here), and the pathos simply doesn’t run as deep as it did by the end of Reeves’ trilogy, but the final moments of Ball’s film make it easy to imagine that its sequels could reach similar dramatic heights. That’s ominous news for this franchise’s latest generation of characters, but heartening information for anyone who can appreciate the cognitive dissonance of a “Planet of the Apes” movie that leaves you with a renewed sense of hope for tomorrow.
Paste Magazine (7/10):
Despite its deficiencies, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes possesses enough of its own intriguing trajectory for Ball’s new stab at the franchise to have the opportunity to grow into its own singular new strand within the Apes canon. After 55 years of different directions, this is far from the most exciting Planet of the Apes has been, but it’s also far from the worst, and I’m open to seeing wherever this leads.
SlashFilm (8/10):
Previously, Ball has only directed three "Maze Runner" films, each of the artifacts from the '00s and '10s Y.A. dystopian trend. The "Maze Runner" movies were based on a nonsensical conceit — teens are memory-wiped and then locked into a moving maze populated by monsters (??) — and Ball, for whatever slick effects and sexy young actors who could throw in, couldn't quite salvage the material. Here, Ball seems more assured, letting his $165 million franchise picture contain scenes of walking, of rest, and of quiet. After a decade of hyperactive action and nerdy mythos construction, the quiet moments are appreciated.
The Guardian (60):
The film becomes rather jumbled and preposterous by the very end, but not before some perfectly good action sequences, and the CGI ape faces are very good. This franchise has held up an awful lot better than others; now it should evolve to something new.
Total Film (3/5):
Alas, try as he might, Teague just isn’t as compelling as Serkis in a sequel that exhibits little of the Rise/Dawn/War triptych’s grand thematic sweep. And while the film’s striking vision of a California overtaken by foliage never fails to dazzle, particularly in scenes where Noa and orangutan Raka (Peter Macon) explore what was once LAX, there’s not enough that’s fresh here to make you salivate for the future instalments its ending invites.
ScreenRant(80):
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is a rousing action-adventure in the ruins of the human world – traces of the past remain but this is Noa's story.
Slant (50)
By the time the demands of big-budget spectacle take over in the final act, a film that initially stands out from the pack in imagining a different perspective of the world ends up looking all too disappointingly like everything else in the current mega-budget cinema landscape.
Perhaps I shouldn’t be too surprised that the first “Apes” movie released under Disney ownership is empty franchise gruel that thinks all audiences want is a bunch of CGI coupled with a recognizable IP. That approach has worked out for the studio in the past, and maybe people will happily embrace whatever this is. But it’s certainly not a movie worthy of the “Planet of the Apes” moniker.
Collider (70)
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes explores the past while creating a new future, starting this fresh angle on the series to a rocky, but promising start.
Synopsis:
Director Wes Ball breathes new life into the global, epic franchise set several generations in the future following Caesar’s reign, in which apes are the dominant species living harmoniously and humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.
Cast:
- Owen Teague as Noa
- Freya Allan as Mae / Nova
- Kevin Durand as Proximus Caesar
- Peter Macon as Raka
- William H. Macy as Trevathan
Director: Wes Ball