Set many centuries after the events of the last instalment in the simian franchise (2017's well received War for the Planet of the Apes), Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes succeeds both as a sequel/reboot and a solid standalone tale, while director Wes Ball, who previously helmed the Maze Runner trilogy, nicely tees up the story for potential further chapters.
Ape leader Caesar (Andy Serkis) is long gone, but his peaceable legacy endures in a world where apes are the dominant species, while humans exist in the shadows after being decimated by an intellect-robbing virus.
A vertigo-inducing and thrilling opening scene introduces us to our new central protagonist - Noa (Owen Teague) - a chimp on the cusp of adulthood who is undertaking a dangerous rite of passage.
He is a member of the Eagle Clan, a harmonious tribe of chimps who live in tandem with the powerful birds of prey, and he seems desperate to prove himself to his imposing leader father Koro (Neil Sandilands).
Noa unwittingly comes across a brutal, rampaging clan of apes who have twisted Caesar’s teachings and who have also managed to harness electricity into an archaic looking taser.
Led by the narcissistic, power-hungry Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), the masked soldiers lay waste to Eagle Clan’s beautifully constructed village and take many of the apes prisoner.
So begins Noa's classic hero’s journey as he attempts to track down his captive family and friends in the company of the wise orangutan Raka (Peter Macon) and a wild-eyed, seemingly mute human Mae (Freya Allan).
Mae is savvier than she appears and soon reveals where the soldiers are stationed, near an old human bunker which Proximus believes contains technological secrets which would bring on the chimp’s evolution leaps and bounds.
However, Mae's motivations to tag along on this treacherous quest are not as innocent as they initially appear, and she threatens to disrupt Noa’s carefully laid plans.
Although Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes comes in at a hefty 145 minute running time, the action tips along at an enjoyable pace, bolstered by incredibly well-realised visual effects and beautifully lush scenery.
In particular, nature’s reclamation of man-made structures leads to some particularly striking imagery, reminiscent of the beautiful wasteland in The Last of Us. This ape-centric instalment is a gripping watch and proves there's plenty of life in the old primate.
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