‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ is ‘a jaw-dropping spectacle’ [Review Round-Up]

On May 10, 2024, 20th Century Studios released “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” written by Josh Friedman and directed by Wes Ball. The sequel to 2017’s “War for the Planet of the Apes” is the fourth installment of this reboot franchise and stars Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon and William H. Macy. 

Many years after the reign of Caesar, a young ape goes on a journey that will lead him to question everything he’s been taught about the past and make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike. The highly anticipated blockbuster is a hit with critics and audiences alike, with the critics consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reading, “Carving out a new era for ‘The Planet of the Apes’ with lovable characters and rich visuals, ‘Kingdom’ doesn’t take the crown as best of the franchise but handily justifies its continued reign.” Read our full review round-up below.

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Owen Gleiberman of Variety says, “Kevin Durand’s performance as Proximus, the leering bonobo monarch, is a piece of insinuating theater — he’s a leader who’s made the mistake of thinking everything is about him. And the rest of the cast makes its mark, from Sarah Wiseman as Noa’s heartstrong mother to Peter Macon as the whimsical seen-it-all Raka to William H. Macy as a scavenger who has carved out a place for himself in the ape kingdom like Dennis Hopper’s photographer in ‘Apocalypse Now.”

Matt Neglia of Next Best Picture praises the film, stating, “’Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes’ is a jaw-dropping spectacle. But more so than that, it retains the heart of the previous three films, engrossing us in the world and getting us to care deeply about each of the newly introduced characters.” Adding, “Owen Teague delivers an outstanding performance as Noa. He may not have the same display of power and leadership as Andy Serkis’s Caesar had. Still, when the film concludes, Teague successfully conveys Noa’s arc from a wide-eyed, blissful follower to the same strong leader as Caesar once was for his people. There’s still room for the character to grow, though. Teague’s commitment to nailing down the mannerisms, physicality, and cadence set by Serkis’s work is impressive and creates a seamless continuity from the last batch of films to this one.”

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Jake Cole of Slant Magazine was less impressed, stating, “By the time the demands of big-budget spectacle take over, a film that initially stands out from the pack in imagining a different perspective of the world ends up looking like everything else in the current mega-budget cinema landscape.” Concluding, “Written by Josh Friedman, ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ opens with a text crawl reminding the audience of these circumstances, which preemptively blunts the impact of Noa stumbling across a human woman (Freya Allen) who displays above-average intelligence, completely upending his understanding of humans. The film builds a number of twists around the woman’s level of awareness, but a virus can affect each host differently, and certain revelations intended to be bombshells instead feel perfectly logical and unremarkable.”

Jim Slotek of Original Cin notes, “Apes gonna ape. And for what it’s worth, the somewhat talky ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ – the fourth in the most recent series inspired by Pierre Boule’s 1963 novel – is the most ape-ful of the series. It doesn’t move the saga along much though.” Continuing, “In one way or another, every ‘Planet of the Apes’ movie except the first has been a part of a longer narrative towards how this planet went ape. And for much of the screen-time, it does look like ‘Kingdom’ is moving us there. But, of course, it stops short. If Earth is ever fully simian-run in this series, we’ll be back where we started. And Charlton Heston isn’t around to straighten out those damned dirty apes.”

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