In the Flesh: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

I don’t think you could find a more shopworn story template than the one Wes Ball breaks out for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. An uncertain but promising young man, his village enslaved by raiding imperialists, strikes out on his own to discover the truth of the world, come of age, and rescue his family and love interest. About as original as those doughy half-baked sugar cookies you can buy in bulk at Market Basket, but you know, when you want one of those things, nothing else hits quite the same. Owen McTeague does good voice work as our protagonist, Noa, opposite Kevin Durand clearly having the time of his life as the expansive, ambitious Proximus Caesar, while the supporting cast hit their marks and make the tried and true story beats feel, if not fresh, at least well-oiled and carefully set. The CGI is a cut above the usual blockbuster sludge, especially when it comes to subtle facial animations, and while it could really use a shot of richness in its color palette, Ball’s framing is decent and the film has some lovely distance shots.

There are some real action highlights too, from the winning aerial escapades of the opening scene to the frankly terrifying final confrontation between Noa and Proximus’s gorilla lieutenant, Sylva (Eka Darville). The latter especially is a gripping sequence, one of the better executions of agility versus brute force in recent filmmaking. The thematic material is pretty safe fare about the evils of militarism and building trust between societies, but it does have admirable bite in the film’s third act as Noa and his uncertain human ally, Mae (Freya Allan), reckon with the possibility that their two species can’t coexist. Their shared triumph doesn’t cement trust between them or lead to a happy, wholesome resolution, and the bitterness of the pair’s final parting gives the overlong film a pleasing final note to end on. Only a few times does the script trip over its own exposition or blunder around a point it’s trying to make, so even during cuttable stretches it doesn’t feel too slow.

What you have in the end is a fun blockbuster, a rarity these days, with some lovely visuals, fun action, and engaging characters. Durand bellowing “What a wonderful day!” at the top of his lungs is delightful enough that you understand immediately why they led the trailer off with it, the stuff with the eagles is great, and if there isn’t much original happening here, at least what it is doing is done with care and focus. The villain’s classic plunge from the cliffs really gets the blood pumping, too. You could do a lot worse for a night at the movies.