Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Hey everyone and welcome today we will be talking about the film Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Fun Fact, the actors who portrayed apes went to ape school to learn how to move and speak like them. This film came out in 2024 and stars Owen Teague, Freya Allan, and Kevin Durand and was directed by Wes Ball. So without further ado let’s get right into it.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes takes place many generations after Caesar’s death when the apes have become the dominant species and have different clans all over the world. We meet Noa who is a part of the Eagle clan and the son of their leader. One night the clan is attacked by a clan that serves the Tyrant Proximus Caeser, who has twisted Caesar’s words for his gain, and kills Noa’s father and kidnaps the other apes. Noa must partner with some unlikely allies to stop Proximus from gaining even more power.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is a Science Fiction action movie. It has similar vibes to Dune Part 2, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, or Avatar.
The trilogy of Planet of the Apes movies starting with Rise of the Planet of the Apes is still one of my favorite franchises so I was so excited to see this movie and it did not disappoint. The trilogy is great and laid the foundation for this world and this movie takes it to another level to see what’s next for this society and how the different groups have adapted and survived. This film paves its way by introducing us to new characters and doing a time jump but also reminds us that the influence of the past movies is still there.
The movie starts with Ceaser’s funeral which is a great place to start to remind the viewer that not only is Caeser dead but there will be no more films focusing on him or his time. The one thing I loved about this scene is that Maurice was with Caesar until the end. There are some callbacks to the older movies throughout this film like Caesers symbol which is the window in his room from Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Ape vs. Ape story and how Proiximus mirrors Koba from Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and the name Nova which is given to Mae in this movie is the name given to the girl in War of the Planet of the Apes. There are even connections to the original films with Charlton Heston if you are a fan of those.
The movie takes some time to show the young apes searching for an eagle egg and while it is part of the story it has a dual function of also reintroducing us to a changed world which is now run by apes. We see how the apes have adapted and see what is important for them and what they have decided to let fall apart. Later on, we see how there are even some humans in a pack drinking water from a lake which is a small way to show that now some humans have minds like animals while apes are the smart ones.
Noa was played by Owen Teague who did a good job with the motion capture and voice acting. I loved how he was the underdog who was at first trying to prove himself and then became the last hope for his people. His story mirrors Caesers in the way that he wasn’t looking to be a leader but he was looking to unite and save his fellow apes. Along the journey, he makes new friends and learns about the past and it was cool to see how what was being taught to the apes really didn’t teach them much about the history of where they lived and came from. I thought he had tremendous character growth and seemed like he could pass on so much information to his village from the books and Raka. Side note, he needs to get him a silverback bestie for some extra muscle.
One thing about these apes movies is that the Orangutan is going to be the character I like the most. In the other movies, we had Maurice and in this one, we get Raka who is played by Peter Macon and is like a record keeper and historian. I love how while Proximus is preaching what Caesar’s principles were and twisting them to fit his needs, Raka is out here with the actual reasoning behind Caesar’s words and has more knowledge about the history of the world before apes became the dominant species. He was the voice of reason when it came to going after Proximus and dealing with Mae. I was sad that he died but I enjoyed seeing him pass on his knowledge before he passed. Also, I just have to mention that hair because why? like why he got these emo-looking bangs.
Mae who is played by Freya Allan was someone who I was intrigued about but after seeing the humans in other ape movies, I was not optimistic about her at all. She is proof that not all humans were affected by the chemical that made the apes and she pretends that her village was all killed but we come to find out she still has some human friends. She started growing on me but then I came to realize that she was just using the apes to get what she wanted which was some type of drive so that the other humans could get the satellites back up and running. We don’t know if this is just to attempt to find a solution for the virus or to start a war with the Apes. Even though Noa helped her she didnt care and did what she needed to do to escape and risked the lives of the other apes. At the end of the film she planned on killing Noa which I’m glad she didn’t but I think that in the future she might be the reason Noa dies or she will help Noa find a way to unite humans and apes if there are more films. At the end of the day, she was a reminder of why I didn’t root for the humans in the prequel set of films which is mainly that they blame the apes for the state of the world and think that getting rid of them will fix that when literally the reason the world is like this in the first place is because of humans.
Proximus Caesar was just Caesar by name and nothing else. He is the perfect example and also a warning of how history and religion are distorted over time and then exploited by those who seek power. He gives these speeches that convince apes that his leading is what’s in their best interest. It was interesting to hear him say apes stronger together which we have seen Caesar use in the past but he’s not saying that because he’s helping his fellow apes, no he says that so that they can work together to get what he wants. In the scenes where we do see him he’s often shown as above the apes or away from them with few having access to him proving that he is not united with them, he thinks he is above them. He is a tyrant and twists the words of the past to control and kill apes and isn’t looking to make a better life for the apes, he is looking to make a better life for himself.
One thing that has always amazed me about the apes movies is the special effects and how they always look so realistic. Like lately special effects have been a hit or miss but this movie proved that there are some films that do special effects really well. They make these apes so realistic and when they are speaking it just looks like they took their time with perfecting the visual effects.
My favorite part is the downfall of Proximus after he almost kills Noa. We see how Noa gets an eagle egg in the beginning to impress his father which gets cracked and then after the attack on the village and death of his dad, his dad’s eagle follows him around but he hasn’t found a way to connect with the eagle which always attacks him. Throughout the film, I wondered how the eagles would come back into play since it seemed like an important part of the story. In this scene, we see that Noa finally is able to create this bond with this eagle and sings the song like his dad was doing and uses them to take down Proximus. The other apes chime in with the song that summons their eagles and further proves the statement that apes together strong. In this moment we see that Noa embodies the values of Caeser more than Proximus ever has which leads to his death which still has Noa respecting the other Caeser saying, ape shall never kill ape. It was the perfect moment to show that even though Caesar's values have been misinterpreted by some, they will not last as leaders, and the ones who actually understand the words will be the ones who will make a better life for apes.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is not only a mouthful but a great movie that might be the start of a new trilogy of films. It keeps up the amazing visual effects and proves that the franchise has a lot of life left to give and even with the introduction of new characters it doesn’t lose its charm.
