Storywise, I’m good with the first two acts. It’s a new chapter in the series, and things have changed in the story. The world is evolving along with its primate inhabitants. There is lore being built, which is fascinating and introduces religion into the world of the Apes, particularly from the wise Raka. It’s a stretch, but the original Caesar might be the Christ figure of the ape universe.
Owen Teague as Noa is a great character to build this new series around. He’s young and slowly developing into the leader to take his father’s place. Freya Allan, as Nova has secrets and subverts expectations, is not the person you think she is in terms of character and motivation.
The central conflict centers on Proximus’ understanding that though he is evolving, it’s happening slower than he likes. He discovers an ancient “vault” full of treasures…mostly military-grade treasures, and can get the vault open.
“…lore being built, which is fascinating and introduces religion…”
What I like about this story is that the film becomes political…historically political. You see Proximus taking notes from not just human history but recent ape history. Here, Caesar is a legend, and we see how Proximus alters and removes facts about Caesar to firmly establish himself as the new “Caesar.”
I hope you see how cool this story could be because these first two acts take us in an interesting direction, which I’m afraid is ruined in that third act. Without spoiling, I’m OK with the third act…at the moment. But the next movie (that’s right…next movie) could easily mishandle the treasure the filmmakers built and quickly move into crazy town.
I’ll say this about the third act. It goes crazy town. There’s some girl-bossing in Mae (explained in the film’s last moments). When you watch it, how did we get here? It will induce a lot of eye-rolling. This third act goes out of control, and liberties are taken storywise to justify what feels like a rushed ending.
Go see Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes for the first two acts, but be afraid…very afraid. Watching the third act doesn’t give me much confidence that this series will stick the landing in the second film.
"…I'll say this about the third act. It goes crazy town."
