The Planet of the Apes embrace your future
As a good special effects specialist, director Wes Ball managed to put his talent and energy where it was needed in this new film Planet of the Apes: The New Kingdom. After the “Caesar” trilogy (The origins of the planet of the apes, Planet of the Apes: The Showdown AND Planet of the Apes: Supremacy), Planet of the Apes: The New Kingdom find the right balance between the following – its plot revolves around the legacy of the legendary Caesar, hundreds of years after his death – and the reboot.
Indeed, since Caesar no longer exists and has become a myth in a totally disrupted world where primates dominate and humans have almost completely regressed into the wild, in this new film we focus on the fate of Noah (Owen Teague), a young chimpanzee from a peaceful community. In this world there are several clans of monkeys. There are those who have forgotten Caesar and those who bring his teachings to life. And those who bribed him to found an empire. Planet of the Apes: The New Kingdom thus tells, in a film with action sequences and spectacular visual effects, how the heritage of an individual, considered a god, can be used for peaceful or war purposes, to prosper or to enslave.
A film of technological prowess
Starting from this good idea, which allows Caesar to continue living his legend by giving life to another story with his new characters, Wes Ball thus creates a science fiction success. We feel a visceral pleasure in discovering magnificent environments, an abundant nature in which we pass from vine to vine dizzying fluidity. The special effects are provided by the New Zealand studio Weta Digital – created by Peter Jackson -, which he worked on previously Avatar: The Way of Water. A prestigious reference that can be seen. In fact, the movements of the monkeys, their fur depending on whether it is dry or wet, the foliage, the water, everything contributes to making the perfect feeling of immersion.
When her clan is attacked and enslaved by Proximus Caesar, a bonobo leader who wants to appropriate ancient human technology, essentially military, Noa wakes up in the ruins and sets out to find her people. On his way he will meet Raka (Peter Macon), an orangutan full of wisdom and guardian of Caesar’s humanist legacy. Together they will manage to “tame” Mae, a young human who is going in the same direction as them.
In this new story of The Planet of the Apes where humans are on the margins, they are primates and therefore actors performance acquisition that distinguish. Owen Teague as Noa and Kevin Durand as Proximus César. Recommended by Andy Serkis, specialist in performance acquisition and interpreter of Caesar in the previous films, they convey perfectly an extended register of amplified emotions thanks, once again, to cutting-edge technology. Therefore, despite the interpretations applied, the human characters played by Freya Allan (Mae) and William H. Macy (Trevathan, slave and advisor to Proximus Caesar) would seem almost insignificant in comparison.
The timid choice of an agreed upon scenario
With such success in its visual spectacle, it is difficult not to sigh at times at the elementary narration of a scenario without much originality. Like the Noah of the Bible, like the Neo of MatrixNoa doesn’t realize it immediately but it is he who is entrusted with the foundation of a new world. He will then go through the phase of awakening, then that of the obstacles to overcome, which will show him who are his friends and who are his enemies, before finally starting to understand who he has become and what his new life will be. Very quickly we understand the stakes of the different characters and can guess quite easily what will happen to them.
But falling under Planet of the Apes: The New Kingdom Given the simplicity of its scenario, we fall into the same criticism leveled at James Cameron regarding the franchise Avatars. Common denominator, these two franchises successfully use the most efficient visual technologies of their time. So maybe what Planet of the Apes: The New Kingdom Said of human values, freedom, power and social struggle, it is not very philosophically complex. But the visual spectacle is such the common banality of the scenario it can then appear, with an amplifying effect, as a weakness.
However, it would undoubtedly have been too much to ask to let oneself get carried away and overwhelmed by both the special effects and the writing of the screenplay, with the risk of losing all readability and drowning in the first work of this new cycle. The Planet of the Apes. It would have been a shame, Planet of the Apes: The New Kingdom it is promising for the future.
Planet of the Apes: The New Kingdom by Wes Ball, in theaters starting May 8, 2024. Above is the trailer. Find all our trailers here.
Source: Cine Serie
Ray Ortiz is a journalist at Gossipify, known for his coverage of trending news and current events. He is committed to providing readers with accurate and unbiased reporting, and is respected for his ability to keep readers informed on the latest news and issues.
