The plot: 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.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes was Very Good.
Pros: How well they did continuing the world building established from the previous films. I was amazed how good the apes look on screen. All the performances are good. Glad I didn’t have no expectations before seeing this film. The CGI and VFX effects are top-notch & I also like how they set things up for the near future.
Cons: I felt Proximus Caesar lame. The movie did drag out towards the end, and it was a shame seeing what happened to Raka.
Genre:
Directed by Wes Ball
Produced by Josh Friedman
Written by Wes Ball, Joe Hartwick Jr., Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Jason T. Reed
Based on Characters; by Rick Jaffa; Amanda Silver; Premise from Planet of the Apes; by Pierre Boulle
Starring: Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon & William H. Macy.
Cinematography: Gyula Pados
Edited by Dan Zimmerman
Music by John Paesano
Production companies: Oddball Entertainment, Jason T. Reed Productions
Distributed by: 20th Century Studios
The Casts:
Apes:
- Owen Teague as Noa, an elder chimpanzee hunter and the heir to his ape clan led by his father Koro
- Kevin Durand as Proximus Caesar, an ambitious bonobo monarch who leads a coastal clan of apes in search of human technologies and preaches an altered version of Caesar’s teachings
- Peter Macon as Raka, a wise and virtuous Bornean orangutan who becomes an ally of Noa
- Lydia Peckham as Soona, a female chimpanzee and Noa’s love interest
- Travis Jeffery as Anaya, a male chimpanzee and Noa’s best friend
- Sara Wiseman as Dar, Noa’s chimpanzee mother
- Neil Sandilands[12] as Koro, Noa’s chimpanzee father and the leader of the falconry ape clan[14]
- Eka Darville as Sylva, a western lowland gorilla and chief commander of Proximus’ army[15][16]
- Ras-Samuel[12] as Lightning, a chimpanzee soldier of Proximus’ army
Additionally, Karin Konoval makes a brief cameo in an opening flashback prologue as Maurice, the Bornean orangutan from the previous film.[17]
Humans:
- Freya Allan as Mae / Nova, a young woman who joins Noa on his journey while having an agenda of her own. She is given the name “Nova” by Noa and Raka, a reference to the character of the same name from War for the Planet of the Apes, both of which were a reference to the original film.
- William H. Macy as Trevathan, an opportunistic human who styles himself as Proximus Caesar’s chief advisor and teaches him human history.
- Dichen Lachman[21] as Korina, leader of the human satellite base.
I highly recommend this movie.
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
Ryan Balkwill:
Resident film reviewer,
Level Best Art Cafe