What a Wonderful Day.
4 / 5
Directed by Wes Ball.
Many years after the reign of Caesar, a young ape goes on a journey that will lead him to question everything he's been taught about the past and make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.
After dropping one of the most striking trilogies of the decade, Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes evolves the franchise to intriguing new territory that expands on the impact of Caesar’s legacy.
This new instalment picks up generations later where the planet, apes and humans have developed in vastly different ways. A young chimpanzee named Noa, played by Owen Teague takes the lead as we follow his journey to discover the secrets of this new world and how ape-kind came to be.
The visuals are unsurprisingly fantastic and the film's strongest quality. While each film continues to outdo itself, Kingdom does lack the visual flair that Matt Reeves brought to Dawn & War but Wes Ball brings a more naturalistic approach that works for this vast setting. There's certainly a lot of inspiration from Avatar: The Way of Water as it uses this latest motion capture technology to its advantage.
The story does feel a little unfocused as it attempts to balance many substantial themes. Ultimately doing none of them justice while saving much of the payoff for any potential future instalments.
I wasn't sure if a sequel was needed after the high standards of its predecessors but Kingdom is a welcome return to the Planet of the Apes that sets up an intriguing future while staying true to what made the series so captivating.
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