When a leader departs, the power vacuum left in their wake will always draw our fascination.
I’m a bit dubious about the return to the silver screen for the Planet of the Apes franchise. Not because the latest movies haven’t been good – in fact, the reboot trilogy was almost universally praised. Moreso, I’m cautious about diminishing returns, about maintaining the consistency that the trilogy established. Make no mistake, this isn’t doom and gloom, just natural questions when you’re dealing with a delayed sequel, especially one that’s seeing a change in the talent behind the camera. Director Matt Reaves raised his profile by way of his work on Dawn & War for the Planet of the Apes, respectively. He’s gone on to direct caped crusaders, leaving Wes Ball (the Maze Runner franchise) to take his place in the director’s chair. While Ball is no stranger to action movies, will he display the artistry and storytelling chops that made Reaves’ tenure so fruitful? The Maze Runner movies aren’t much to write home about, although that may just be evidence of limited source material.
For what it’s worth, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, Avatar 2) are returning as screenwriters for Kingdom. The longtime duo were instrumental to getting the reboot off the ground in a grounded and believable way, a far cry from the silliness present in the Apes movies of the 1970s (more on that later). So, while Ball may have much to live up to in the footsteps he’s following in, the foundation is there to continue this story in an exciting way. Slight spoilers, but when we last left this franchise, the great ape Caesar had done everything in his power to establish a working, organized, but militaristic society of intelligent Apes. His story concluded (somewhat in tragic fashion), but now it’s time to see how this society will evolve in his absence. That’s the draw of the movie, set many years after the events of the last. One that opens the door for a litany of personal motivations, as we’ll see if this burgeoning community will prosper in the leadership of the many, or falter from the selfishness of the few:
Off the bat, the way the story is shaping up is simultaneously expected yet intriguing. In this new regime, the Apes are very proud of their success, but there’s also a lot of key details they’re omitting while teaching their rise to power to their young. This, naturally, leads to a journey about prejudices, group think, and the “Us vs Them” mentality. These issues come to a head when the young ape Noa (Owen Teague) decides to spare the life of an innocent human (Freya Allen), leading to a violent clash with the apes’ vengeful rulers.
On its surface, this fits seamlessly with the themes of the previous trilogy – the tenous relationship between humans and apes, selectively withholding violence against humankind as a means to battle one’s own cruelty, as well as the power struggle and differing goals amongst the apes’ leaders. I think the previous trilogy’s Caesar would empathize heavily with Noa’s inner conflict, and Noa as a character seems to harbor the former’s worldview of seeing the value in both apes and humans. Caesar was a conflicted leader, one of great aggression but also great empathy. Noa may be poised to embark on a similar journey.
However, the new films (as this is the start of another trilogy) will need to avoid treading old ground. While it is a positive that Kingdom is carrying with it a lot of familiar themes, it will be important for these films to say something new about the psychology of its characters, instead of potentially doing a redux of Caesar’s experiences and life lessons. This begs the question of what new avenues the series can go in to keep things fresh. We know how the original series – all the way back in the 60s and 70s – handled this problem: by increasingly upping the insanity of it all.
The very first Planet of the Apes (1968) was an intense psychological science fiction thriller, one that was bold in its political metaphor while keeping the audience guessing with a rich plot steeped in clever tricks reminiscent of sci-fi literature. It remains a classic for a reason, including a committed and engaging lead performance from Charlton Heston. But due to the film’s enormous success and critical acclaim, it made the prospect of sequels a very lucrative endeavor; and that is where things start to go off the rails.
The original film produced four sequels, and to keep things interesting, the writers threw everything, including the kitchen sink, at the wall. This ranges from the destruction of entire planets, time travel, and Back to the Future-esque paradoxes – without getting too spoilerific. To be fair, these movies are quite entertaining if you appreciate campy, over the top, and trippy sci-fi flicks. But their concepts might be harder to pull off in the modern era’s more grounded Apes franchise. It would take a filmmaking team willing to take the franchise in a wilder direction while having to make the decision to either lean into hard sci-fi or embrace the cartoonish goofiness of these concepts.
I don’t expect Kingdom to suddenly swing for the fences with wild twists and far out there ideas. It would be out of character for a reboot that has played things relatively safe thus far. But I do hope the new films aren’t just content with playing the greatest hits of the previous trilogy, and will hopefully think outside the box to advance the plot in ways that will actually keep the audience guessing. Even in its (relatively) grounded nature, an earth ruled by apes is still an outrageous concept, and the character progressions, relationships, and betrayals are of biblical proportions. These movies have a depth of themes and ideas to play with that can challenge the best works of Shakespeare or Greek mythology. In that vein, I’m hopeful that Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is not a re-run, but an imaginative chapter with a fresh coat of paint that will allow us to see this story in a brand new light.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes hits theaters everywhere on May 10, 2024.
