Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes has been a tough movie for me to wrap my brain around. It works very well in a moment-to-moment way–the characters are interesting, the action is well-staged, and the world is a compelling one to learn about. But the plot parallels the story from War for the Planet of the Apes weirdly closely, and I’m not sure we ever actually see the kingdom that was promised by the title. This leaves us with a movie that’s entertaining but ultimately somewhat hollow.
Kingdom opens shortly after the events of War for the Planet of the Apes, at the darkly lit funeral for Caesar. It’s an almost ominous scene, calling to mind Queen Cersei’s spooky coronation on Game of Thrones, but it’s not long before it cuts to the title card and a time jump to “many generations later.”
Here, in this new ape-dominated future, we focus on a young ape named Noa (Owen Teague), who belongs to a group called the Eagle Clan–named so because each ape in the clan bonds with and raises an eagle that they form a lifelong partnership with. But Noa doesn’t get the chance to do that, because a chance encounter with a human woman (Freya Allen) quickly leads to an incursion by a group of scary, masked apes who are after her.
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