Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

It has been 7 years since we bid farewell to the story of Caesar and the apes and now we have returned to a world ruled by the apes and a continuation of Caesars story, through the legacy he left behind. We are introduced to a world where humanity's history has been all but forgotten and Caesars story has become a myth and the apes dominion has grown to every corner of the globe.

It tries to recapture the magic that the previous trilogy created and continue it into this film through the use of visual and special effects and unique story telling and world building. What made the previous trilogy so successful was its use of visual effects that made the apes look so real, particularly when it came to action scenes, but this film relied solely on worldbuilding to tell this new apes story and to bring us into this new world that has been created.

This was a bold move to carrying on the story and I believe it paid off quite well, I was invested in seeing this new world and seeing how the apes moved on beyond Caesar and humanity. It does, as well, carry on the themes of tyranny as we now see the tyranny of apes opposed to the tyranny of humans, which creates a bridge between the apes and humans so we see that the two species are not so different.

The film follows Noa, a young ape who wishes to find his place in his world until his village gets captured by an ape warlord and he goes to rescue them. Along the way he learns more about his worlds history, both before and during the fall of humanity, and he begins to learn what it means to be an ape and what humanity also means in the world.

He develops a relationship with a young human woman named Mae, who surprisingly is unaffected by the Simian Flu that wiped out much of the human race. She is a smart and desperate woman who uses the apes to get what she needs in the end, but she develops a mutual respect for the apes as she realises they just want a home just like she does.

Noa also meets another ape called Raka, who is an ape monk of sorts who spreads the story of Caesar and what it meant for the apes. He believes in the strength of apes and the importance of humanity, which is important in this story because its all about exploring the divide between apes and humans. Raka is my favourite character because he understood the importance of both species and, like Caesar, he believed both species could coexist, which I believe is where this story is headed.

The main plot revolved around the tyranny of Proximus Caesar, a self proclaimed Caesar who wants to create a kingdom of apes, hence the title of the film. He comes across as a warlord who, rather than ruling with respect and mercy like Caesar did, he rules with fear and brutality and preys upon villages and stealing its residents and bring them into his own kingdom.

We see a different side of the apes through Proximus and we are reminded that, deep down they are not much different than humans. Koba reminded us of that when we saw his attempted rebellion in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and we see it again in this film and this creates a new dynamic between the species.

The tables effectively turn in this film so we see the dark side of apes opposed to the dark side of humanity. We see how the world has changed and how our characters fit in as they search for Proximus. Noa learns more about his world and understands its dangers as well as its past and this makes him wiser and more like Caesar, he's basically the new Caesar and he sees the humans as a desperate species looking for a home.

The chilling ending of the film says it all as we see Mae and Noa go their separate ways and back to their own people to seemingly prepare for a potential conflict. Noa can see the future is uncertain and he can see a conflict with the humans, as does Mae, so their relationship will be important moving forward.

I really like the ending because it leaves the viewer with anticipation for the next film and it creates a new story that will explore this new world and develop the relationship between humans and apes more. The music and montage all add towards a cliff hanger ending of sorts that brings us back to the planet of the apes.

There are a few things that I noticed that could have been improved on in this film, especially considering we live in an era of advanced visual effects. The apes in this film, in my opinion, didn't look as good as the ones in the previous trilogy did, I noticed a lot of blurred lines in the outlines of the fur and at times they did look too much animated.

Visual effects are always going to be the most important when it comes to making planet of the apes films, but in this film they had to contend with showing a world overrun by nature and an advanced population of apes.. The job was immense to make and it works for most of the runtime but at times it did look off and more animated when you look closely.

I believe the imagery the cinematographers were looking for was to reflect the look of an African plain across a destructive world so it creates a suitable habitat for the apes to live in. Its a great concept and it does provide some good shots and imagery and differentiates the worlds from both trilogies. Its like we are seeing the world through Noa's eyes and we see its beauty and majestic natural power in the overgrown greenery growing out of the concrete of worn down buildings.

I believe the main idea of the film was to show that Earth has truly now become a planet of the apes.

I also like how the film reflects the legacy of Caesar, the writers wanted to continue his story through Noa and show what his sacrifice meant for the apes. He helped the apes create the world they live in and as time went on, his story became forgotten to many and he has now become a legend.

This film is about showing his legacy as a mythical story that inspires the apes and gives them their purpose. I loved that we saw his funeral at the beginning to show that this is the same story, just set years apart, but we still get to see Caesars story through Noa and Noa eventually becomes inspired by Caesar and this leads him to becoming a leader.

I believe this new trilogy that has started with Kingdom is going to be based on legacy and showing what exactly Caesars sacrifice has done for the apes. Its interesting to see how the past links with the present and what it means for the future, it adds tension and understanding to the new world we have been introduced to as well as developing the divide between humans and apes.

I wouldn't be surprised of the next film or the last film will be called Legacy of the Planet of the Apes because this is really about the legacy of Caesar. The writers decided to continue the story left by War and I think that was the right decision because we can see and understand how the apes have evolved since then and what it means for the future.

Overall, I think this was a good instalment to the franchise, its bittersweet and introduces us to the new ape world while setting up a new conflict which the story will develop on.

I found I loved seeing the new ape civilisation in the film and how the apes have evolved since the last film, but I also would have loved to see more of how the humans have coped with this new world. This is, obviously, a film about the apes, but it is also about the humans and how they fit in with this new world order. We saw it briefly but I would have loved to see more of it so it can begin to set up the major conflict between humans and apes.

I think we will get to see more of Mae and Noa because their relationship will be integral for the next two films and I hope we see more of the new ape world and how the story of Caesar has impacted the apes. There are definitely things to improve on in the next films, such as the visual effects and the writing, but I still have hope that this will be as successful as the previous trilogy was.

The magic that the previous trilogy made was creating the line between humans and apes and how the latter treated each other which would eventually lead to the apes overthrowing humans. This new film recreates that same line but the other way around and now I believe the writers want to show that it is possible for humans and apes to live together, but it is now and will always be a planet of the apes.