{"id":28589,"date":"2024-05-08T21:41:58","date_gmt":"2024-05-09T04:41:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=28589"},"modified":"2024-05-08T21:41:58","modified_gmt":"2024-05-09T04:41:58","slug":"kingdom-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-doesnt-live-up-to-its-predecessors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=28589","title":{"rendered":"KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Doesn\u2019t Live Up to Its Predecessors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Running Time: 145 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This film from 20th<\/sup> Century Studios opens\nexclusively at theaters on May 10th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Rise of the Planet of the Apes<\/em> was first\nreleased back in 2011, this reviewer was skeptical that the reboot could match\nthe effectiveness of the original series. As it turned out, the new trilogy was\nremarkably strong, featuring a new and compelling take on the concept with\ngroundbreaking visual effects. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes<\/em> is the\nlatest chapter in the series, set many \u201cape\u201d generations after the end of the\nprevious title. Sadly, this effort doesn\u2019t surprise and is a clunky,\nunnecessary follow-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Noa (Owen Teague) is a young chimpanzee living with his\ntribe at an isolated locale. The group have a special connection to eagles, and\ntheir rite of passage into adulthood involves taking an egg and training the\nhatching birds as their personal companions. Young Noa prepares for this\nceremony, but is interrupted by dangerous goings on around his community. One\nof the threats is the vicious gorilla Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), who has\ntwisted the words of Caesar to justify invading territories. Another potential\ndanger is Mae (Freya Allan), a mysterious human woman hiding in the bushes.\nAfter an assault on his community, Noa is forced to journey into a forbidden\nland, approach strangers and figure out how both he and his species can move\ninto the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s clear from the outset that the movie is attempting to\nestablish a new group of characters. However, it\u2019s very exposition heavy and\nfew of the apes in this follow-up are as charismatic or interesting as in the\nprevious movies. Noa is a conventionally brave young hero finding his way in\nthe world. There are a few amusing interactions with a helpful orangutan named\nRaka (Peter Macon), but early sections of the picture are heavy on\nconversations relating to the late leader Caesar and the true meanings of his\nteachings. While Raka earns a chuckle or two over the course of the film, many\nattempts at humor between the characters fall flat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On a technical level, the film is impressive to behold. The\nCGI apes are generally absorbing once again, particularly in close-ups. Some of\nthe action with the simians jumping around in wider shots doesn\u2019t look quite as\nconvincing, but it\u2019s still engaging to watch. There are some visually striking\nlocations and a couple of tense scenes involving water that are well put\ntogether and add a bit of tension to the proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But as noted, if the characters themselves aren\u2019t\nparticularly compelling, it doesn\u2019t really matter. Typically, this series has\nalways included a dynamic human role for the apes to play off of. Previous\nchapters featured the likes of James Franco, John Lithgow, Jason Clarke, Kerri\nRussell and Woody Harrelson. Human Mae barely speaks for a good portion of the\nstory and is very reserved when she does choose to share information. As\nwritten, the character doesn\u2019t possess the much-needed gravitas or make an exciting\nindividual for the apes to engage with. A famous face does pop up briefly in\nthe second half of the film to try to add some weight to the story, but the\nattempt is too late to make a lasting impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, there is a villain and that conflict is resolved in a\nsatisfying manner. The film tries to show the fallibility of a few of its\ncharacters and how they are unwilling to see different viewpoints, only\nconcerned with manipulating others to accomplish their own goals. However, the\npacing lags overall and much of the lengthy running time is exposition-heavy.\nWhen motivations are revealed, they aren\u2019t surprising. It\u2019s a lot of bluntly\ndelivered set-up without a thrilling pay-off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This series enthusiast was less-than-wowed by the latest\nchapter in this series. In the end, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes<\/em>\ndoesn\u2019t live up to its predecessors. It is too busy grooming itself for future\ninstallments instead of delivering a satisfying narrative in the moment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 145 minutes This film from 20th Century Studios opens exclusively at theaters on May 10th. When Rise of the Planet of the Apes was first released back in 2011, this reviewer was skeptical that the reboot could match the effectiveness of the original series. As it turned out, the new trilogy was remarkably […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":28590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[215,221,6251,7944,11621,11791,11792,11793,11794,15603,15985,16169,16170,17775,19309],"class_list":["post-28589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-215","tag-20th-century-studios","tag-drama","tag-freya-allan","tag-kevin-durand","tag-kingdom-of-the-planet-of-the-apes","tag-kingdom-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-film-review","tag-kingdom-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-movie-review","tag-kingdom-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-review","tag-owen-teague","tag-peter-macon","tag-planet-of-the-apes","tag-planet-of-the-apes-franchise","tag-science-fiction","tag-summer-movies"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28589\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}