Lost knowledge, corrupted legacy, and a hero’s journey
For the past few weeks, I’ve been catching up on all of the Planet of the Apes movies since the reboot series began in 2011. I was doing this in preparation for the latest instalment in the series, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that I went from having a mild interest in these ‘talking monkey movies’ to developing a deep love for them.
There are lots of reasons to love these movies, but the biggest one by far is Caesar, the chimpanzee protagonist who becomes leader of the uplifted apes (with Maurice the orangutan coming in close second). Caesar’s journey is powerful and borderline mythical.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, however, takes place ‘many generations’ into the future. So, no Caesar, which made me incredibly nervous going into this movie. What would be the main reason to like this film without the series’ main character?
Legacy
After a hostile clan of apes attack his home, a young chimp named Noa (Owen Teague) is forced into the wild, where he undergoes a journey of revenge and discovery alongside a mysterious human and a grandfatherly orangutan named Raka.
My biggest fear going into this movie was that, without Caesar, it wouldn’t bring forth the same emotions in me that Rise, Dawn, and War did. Thankfully I didn’t have to worry for long, as the inciting incident brings about a calamity on par with that of War. The first ten or fifteen minutes were more of a showcase of how Noa’s clan functions than introducing necessary plot elements, and although at the time I found it to be a little light—and was waiting with bated breath for the movie to really start—looking back on it, I wish we got to spend more time here.
Specifically, I wish we got more time developing Noa’s relationship with his father, who is also an Elder in Noa’s clan. Fatherhood and leadership are two core themes running through this series, and when his relationship with his father is brought up later in the movie as an important aspect of Noa’s growth, I wished that it had hit harder.
Noa’s arc is classic hero’s journey stuff, and I think Teague did a great job in the performance. I do miss Andy Serkis, though. Noa perhaps isn’t given as many weighty, emotional scenes as Caesar had, and I missed the raw conflict present in Serkis’ performances.
For Caesar!
Something that did make me exceedingly happy was the importance that Kingdom places on Caesar’s legacy from the very beginning. Noa learns about Caesar from Raka the orangutan, who wears a pendant in the familiar shape of the iconic window-frame from Rise, which has since become a symbol associated with Caesar.
It’s a smart way to tell new audiences who Caesar was, while also giving us nerds an insight into how the ape has influenced the current generations. Having Noa slowly take in Caesar’s ideals is a great way to pass on the ape’s legacy, and I’m no longer worried about whether I’ll even care about future movies (so long as they keep using Noa, which I’m assuming they will, as Kingdom is the first movie in a new planned trilogy).
Caesar’s influence also extends to the villains of the film. This is where the film is at its most fascinating. Seeing how Caesar’s credos and axioms have been interpreted—and misinterpreted—by different apes over the years adds a real sense of scale and realism to what’s happening.
Caesar becoming a religious figure also feels natural. In my War review I talked about how great these movies are for having consequences, and if you’ve seen that movie, you’ll know that this reverence for Caesar feels right, given his accomplishments there.
The villain of this piece is Proximus, a vile ape who has wrung the most despicable of meanings from Caesar’s classic mantra, ‘Apes Together Strong.’ I generally liked him as a character—he has a solid goal and is deliciously hateable—but he lacked a strong motivation, and he didn’t feel quite specific enough as an antagonist for Noa.
It’s perhaps a side-effect of Noa being ‘just another ape’ and not an important leader like Caesar, but their conflict didn’t feel as personal as it maybe could have. I feel like some small changes would’ve helped here. For instance, Proximus is interested in acquiring old human technology and weapons for his own selfish purposes. It would’ve been nice, maybe, to have Noa also be interested in old human ways—possibly in conflict with the general sentiment of his clan—but with less of a bent for conquest. There are even seeds of this kind of personality for Noa scattered throughout the movie, but it’s not used to full dramatic effect.
Going Viral
The human presence in Kingdom is the lowest (numerically) it’s been since the beginning of the series. In War we saw the beginnings of a mutation in the virus that uplifted the apes and killed off the humans, with the previously immune humans losing their higher brain function, reducing them to the intelligence of old-age apes.
I didn’t think War capitalised on this concept all that well, and I’m not sure Kingdom does either. Once again, the rules of this mutations are muddy, and the entire concept could’ve been stripped from the movie without changing a single fundamental plot beat. Humans-as-animals is interesting concept on the surface, but in the context of the movie, it’s only ever humans who have held on to their cognitive abilities despite the mutations that pose a threat or affect the story in any way.
Kingdom was also light on the themes of co-existence that have been present throughout the series. This was one of my favourite aspects of the earlier movies because it reminds me so much of Marvel’s X-Men. The question of whether humans can live alongside a species that could some day replace it is an interesting one that is only glanced at here.
Conclusion
Overall, Kingdom didn’t hit the same highs that some of the previous entries did, but I’m also not sure it ever could have. This is a brand-new story with brand-new characters; of course the writers aren’t going to be able to hit the same complex emotional beats of, say, War, because we simply haven’t spent enough time with the characters yet.
That said, do think Kingdom is a success. It falters a little in how it handles the human characters, and the climax lacks a level of specificity and stakes, but Noa is a likeable, endearing character, and his journey is genuinely thrilling.
Bring on the next entry.
***
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