20th Century Studios\u2019 rebooted Planet of the Apes <\/em>films<\/a> became monster successes by presenting remixed takes on the classic tale with some of the most shockingly impressive VFX and motion capture work<\/a> Weta has ever produced. It was surprising to see a series of blockbusters remain so consistently strong, and\u00a0Wes Ball\u2019s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes<\/em><\/a> <\/em>makes solid use of the fertile narrative groundwork laid out in the previous films. But while the movie\u2019s visuals are fantastic and its commitment to worldbuilding is admirable, its promising story about the way myths evolve over time gets drowned out by familiar beats borrowed from other big-screen action spectacles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n After three films that chronicled the first decade and change of life on Earth following the outbreak of a virus that both grants apes increased intelligence and kills infected humans, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes <\/em>jumps 300 years into the future. It introduces a new group of players trying to establish new societies in what used to be the United States of America. Though centuries have passed since the death of Caesar, the first superintelligent ape and leader of the revolutionary uprising that freed his kind, his legacy still lives on in the myths that apes like Noa (Owen Teague), Anaya (Travis Jeffery), and Soona (Lydia Peckham) all know bits and pieces of.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As members of the Eagle Clan \u2014 a group of forest-dwelling chimpanzees who have developed a very human kind of falconry \u2014 everything about Noa and his friends\u2019 lives revolves around community and their sense of stewardship over the birds they train to hunt. But while the Eagle Clan\u2019s culture is a unique creation of the present-day chimps, there are very distinct echoes of the original Caesar\u2019s teachings in their beliefs that apes are stronger together and that violence between their kind puts them all in danger. Harming other apes is the last thing on Noa\u2019s mind as Kingdom <\/em>opens the night before he and his friends are to receive the birds they\u2019ll bond with for life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Photo: 20th Century Studios<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The VFX used to transform the modern Planet of the Apes<\/em>\u2019 mo-cap suit-wearing <\/em>humans into photorealistic apes has always been phenomenal. But here, Weta\u2019s postproduction work and the actors\u2019 performances combine in what often feels like an even more intricate, uncanny way that highlights just how much these apes have evolved compared to their mythic ancestors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As Noa and his friends playfully scramble up trees or race through the Eagle Clan\u2019s village with all of its cleverly built wooden structures, you can feel the apes\u2019 exuberance just from the way they struggle to catch their breath in between hoots and hollers of excitement. There\u2019s a palpable tension between Noa and his father that\u2019s expressed through the terseness of their verbal conversations, but these small moments of awkwardness \u2014 things like furtive glances and hesitant physical contact \u2014 really convey the emotional distance between them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It all helps illustrate how time and freedom have allowed Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes<\/em>\u2019 talking animals to develop cultures and levels of emotional complexity that speak to them surpassing humanity as the world\u2019s dominant species. But when a solitary and seemingly mute human girl (Freya Allan) begins stealing from the Eagle Clan, her presence thrusts them into a brutal conflict with evolution-obsessed bonobo king Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) that puts all of their lives in jeopardy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s hard not to think of James Cameron\u2019s Avatar <\/em>movies watching Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes<\/em> because of how effectively the films make their worlds feel organic and revolve around conflict-averse stewards of flying animals. Rather than unobtanium, it\u2019s the Eagle Clan\u2019s culture and identity (also their lives) that are under attack as Proximus enslaves them. But like Avatar<\/em>, Kingdom <\/em>similarly posits that working with a good human audience surrogate is the only way Noa can hope to save his people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The echoes of blockbusters past grow even louder as Noa \u2014 with the human girl in tow \u2014 sets out to find Proximus\u2019 stronghold and encounters a scholarly orangutan named Raka (Peter Macon), who decides to name the girl \u201cNova.\u201d Nova and Kingdom<\/em>\u2019s packs of wild, mentally regressed humans create one of the clearest throughlines between the modern Planet of the Apes<\/em> franchise and the original 1968 film. Ball pays homage to director Franklin J. Schaffner\u2019s classic especially well through one of the new movie\u2019s first set pieces that sends wild humans running as Proximus\u2019 soldiers hunt them down looking for Nova.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n And while the girl\u2019s name initially plays like a jokey callback, it\u2019s also one of many ways the movie reinforces the idea that legends and the meanings they carry can warp over time as they\u2019re shared across generations. That warping is what gives Proximus his power and what makes his relationship with enslaved human historian Trevathan (William H. Macy) so fascinating to watch.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As interesting as these characters are conceptually, though, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes <\/em>brings them together in a rather predictable way that works more to establish the possibility for more sequels down the line than to really dig into the substance at hand. To be clear, the straightforwardness of the movie\u2019s last third as Noa finds himself trying to break into a Fallout<\/em><\/a>-like vault doesn\u2019t keep it from being an exciting watch. But as Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes<\/em> comes to an end, it\u2019s hard to shake the feeling that we\u2019re still just seeing the stage being set for what might come next \u2014 even after four films.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n