Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is the start of a new generation of apes and humans. This movie takes place around 300 years after the events of War for the Planet of the Apes. Ceaser might be gone but expectations still run high for the start of a new trilogy. Now if you haven’t seen the most recent trilogy don't worry they do a good job catching you up to speed.
One thing you noticed right away was the world. The world as we know it is almost unrecognizable after the fall of society. Nature has fully taken over the cities and even skyscrapers. I’m not really sure what I expected to see. But the world they created was breathtaking.
This story follows Noa a “clever” ape from the Eagle tribe as the main protagonist of this film. I will say that as the movie progressed he got more interesting. They tried to pass him off as somewhat of a genius at times but I’m not really buying it. Don’t get me wrong Noa is smarter than your average bear or ape in this case. But at the end of the day, he has some of the traits you would want to see from your next main protagonist. He might not be Ceaser but he will do for now at least.
Speaking of Ceaser the legend of his story is still kicking among the apes, some more than others. But I think it’s cool that the idea of Ceaser still lives on even though it might not be from his direct descendants. The fact that they still recognize it as a way of life or even abuse it to serve their interests is fascinating to me.
Enter Proximas Ceaser the main antagonist and leader of this so-called “Kingdom”. He was more or less entertained by the legends of the Roman Empire than Ceaser specifically. The only thing he really sought was power to control the apes among him and the rest of humanity as we know it. As the main bad guy Proximus is not really a crazy enforcer like a Koba. But at the same time, Proximas was very entertaining. But I can’t lie I would have thought that after 300 or so years they would be far more advanced than they currently are.
If we take technology out of the conversation you could say that the Eagle tribe was thriving. Everyone could speak English which still trips me out. But outside of that, there hasn’t been any real innovation since they still can’t read. It got me thinking about what makes us human. One of the big things that comes to mind but doesn’t really translate into this movie is imagination. Mainly because at the end of the day they are still just in survival mode. They haven’t been able to pass down information through things like books. So they're still relying heavily on instinct and tradition. This explains why so many of Ceaser's principles almost got lost too time.
Advancement also comes down to curiosity and ambition. Those are qualities I can see in Noa to a certain extent. But it is still too early to tell what kind of leader he will be. He has some major potential to make waves in future movies. Speaking of future movies the dynamic between Noa and Nova aka Mae could end up being legendary. They both have the will to survive and a desire to protect their people.
Narratives could start shifting in the coming future if they decide to “team up” again. Don’t get it twisted Noa isn’t naive enough to think apes can all of a sudden fully trust humans. Yet the idea of humans and apes coexisting is still floating around in some circles. Is it a practical solution no but I’m an optimistic guy so who knows where this story is going to go?
As far as the rest of the human race I’m excited to see what they come up with for the next movie. Overall I think this movie was solid. The action scenes were pretty good. They connected the first trilogy perfectly. This movie was really about world-building. Setting the scene for this new era of apes and humans alike. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes was a solid start so, I’m going to give it an 8/10 G-Files score.
