Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
2024
***
Director: Wes Ball
Cast: Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, William H. Macy, Lydia Peckham, Travis Jeffery, Sara Wiseman, Neil Sandilands, Ras-Samuel Welda'abzgi
The underwhelming War for the Planet of the Apes wrapped up the initially intriguing Planet of the Apes reboot trilogy. This story, which is set some 300 years into the future, looks to be launching another trilogy. A young ape named Noa lives a sheltered life among his clan, who train eagles. When his home village is destroyed and his clan members abducted, Noa must venture out to the unknown to save them. This is the longest film so far, and it looks technically brilliant like the previous three, but I cannot find any reason for its existence. Instead of new and fresh ideas, it treads familiar ground and sets up another future clash between the apes and the humans. Some elements of this new world make no sense to me.
