469: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

[00:00:01] [SPEAKER_00]: 176, let's get to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, which is now available on digital

[00:00:07] [SPEAKER_00]: purchase and demand.

[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_00]: It is directed by Wes Ball, stars Owen Teague, Freya Allen, Kevin Duran, Peter Michonne,

[00:00:17] [SPEAKER_00]: William H. Macy, few others.

[00:00:20] [SPEAKER_00]: And the synopsis is, many years after the reign of Caesar, a young ape goes on a journey

[00:00:25] [SPEAKER_00]: that will lead him to question everything he's been taught about the past and make

[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_00]: choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.

[00:00:34] [SPEAKER_00]: So I just, in the last couple of days I released the Caesar trilogy plus a bonus review of

[00:00:41] [SPEAKER_00]: the Tim Burton film so you can check that out either on the regular feed or go to filmbuds.bangcamp.com

[00:00:48] [SPEAKER_00]: and get the whole show together.

[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't see this one in theaters, this was my first time seeing it, I just got

[00:00:55] [SPEAKER_00]: it on demand.

[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_00]: As I've already discussed, I'm a big Planet of the Apes fan, there's just so much to

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_00]: it and especially from a political and social commentary standpoint but from storytelling,

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_00]: from the effects, there's just so much to enjoy.

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_00]: I was not skeptical about this one when it was announced, I was a little sad that

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Matt Reeves was not coming back to direct but also I'm not upset that he went on

[00:01:21] [SPEAKER_00]: to do the Batman and is doing the second one too, but this was really taking the

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_00]: franchise in a fairly new direction, whole new production team and all that so I didn't

[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_00]: know exactly what to expect.

[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Heard fairly decent things about it over time and on first viewing I think it's

[00:01:40] [SPEAKER_00]: solid for sure.

[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_00]: I do feel that it's slightly, not by a lot but it is slightly below the Caesar

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_00]: trilogy.

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Wes Ball, in terms of his style, I didn't know exactly what he was going to bring

[00:01:55] [SPEAKER_00]: to this or whatever else.

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I think overall it's well directed, I do feel that there is a slight decrease in overall

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_00]: direction strength.

[00:02:07] [SPEAKER_00]: One thing I did find somewhat refreshing but also by the end I didn't totally love

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_00]: is it is at this point the longest of the entire franchise and at the same time

[00:02:18] [SPEAKER_00]: there's not a lot going on, like really the first half especially is mostly just

[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_00]: a journey sort of narrative where this young ape, not to spoil it too much, something

[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_00]: happens and basically he's sent on a bit of a quest I guess you could say and for

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_00]: the most part there's really not much plot.

[00:02:36] [SPEAKER_00]: It's very, very simple but at the same time I feel like if you look at the Caesar

[00:02:43] [SPEAKER_00]: trilogy, War for the Planet of the Apes which is the third one, that to me justifies

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_00]: why it's almost two and a half hours long.

[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_00]: There's so much going on in there whereas this I think it could have been cut down

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_00]: to two hours, two ten instead of being two twenty five because even though there

[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_00]: are some ideas which I'll get to in just a minute and there are some visuals and

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_00]: some characters that I like, it didn't have as much to justify why it's so long.

[00:03:12] [SPEAKER_00]: There was never points where I was bored but there were points where I was thinking

[00:03:16] [SPEAKER_00]: jeez this is still going and we have a long time to go.

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_00]: But the overall visual style of course the effects are amazing.

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_00]: I like the look of the world.

[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think it looks as good as Matt Reeves' films and I don't think that

[00:03:31] [SPEAKER_00]: probably the main or slight detractor from the movie is I didn't feel as

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_00]: emotionally attached to this group of characters as I did even when I first

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_00]: saw Rise so that's not a huge problem just I did feel slightly more detached

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_00]: from everything happening.

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_00]: The look of the ape civilization where you encounter that in the story I thought

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_00]: that was awesome right next to the ocean.

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I love that whole setup and location.

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_00]: I think it looks great and how the third act unfolds and what goes wrong.

[00:04:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that's very, very effective and suspenseful.

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_00]: As I mentioned one of the best things about Planet of the Apes is their

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_00]: ability to incorporate ideas of politics, race, just culture in general.

[00:04:20] [SPEAKER_00]: There's so much going on that you can really read into and I love that

[00:04:24] [SPEAKER_00]: in this day and age.

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_00]: The bad, I guess you can call them the bad group of apes who run this

[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_00]: ape village, whatever you want to call it.

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_00]: They're using Caesar's name or they see him as their sort of savior

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_00]: and they're committing all these acts of enslavement and violence and everything

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_00]: else in the name of Caesar in order to justify that.

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_00]: And they're saying, well, this is what he would want.

[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_00]: He would be okay if we did this or that.

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think in this day and age where people are so easy to say,

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_00]: oh yeah, this political leader, this religious leader, this cultural leader,

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_00]: whether they're alive or dead, I'm going to do this.

[00:05:07] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to commit this act.

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to say these things because they would be okay with it.

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_00]: This would make me feel like I'm close to them.

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm doing their work.

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, I'm continuing their legacy.

[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_00]: In reality, you have no idea what that person would actually want,

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_00]: whether again, whether they're alive or dead.

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_00]: You have no idea.

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, you may interpret what they say or what they have written,

[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_00]: but it's so easy to misinterpret, get your own selfishness involved to

[00:05:37] [SPEAKER_00]: where you're saying, oh no, I'm going to do this to make myself feel better.

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Not for them, not for the world, for me.

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that with everything going on in the modern world

[00:05:47] [SPEAKER_00]: and how there's so much miscommunication, false information amongst other things,

[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that idea definitely hits.

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_00]: And the more I think about it, the more I really enjoy that being in this movie.

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_00]: So kudos to them, whether that's a script or direction, strength,

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, or a combination of things.

[00:06:06] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that is my favorite part of looking at the film in retrospect.

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Besides that, the score is okay.

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I think as much as I rag on Michael Giacchino for being in everything

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_00]: or having his music be a part of everything these days, it seems,

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_00]: I think the score in this is slightly lesser, just not as memorable.

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Performance wise though, excellent.

[00:06:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I think everybody crossed the board, both the voice actors for The Apes,

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_00]: but also human characters.

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_00]: I like seeing William H. Macy in this.

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_00]: That was a nice surprise.

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_00]: The Nova character, the female lead in this, I really enjoyed how,

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_00]: actually before I even get to that, the third act,

[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_00]: even though it was long, too long,

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like it really did end on a very satisfying note,

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_00]: both emotionally, suspense wise, character wise.

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I thought it ended very well, which is nice.

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_00]: So made it feel worth it to get through all that.

[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_00]: But I like how they show that character throughout the movie

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_00]: where she doesn't necessarily hate The Apes,

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_00]: but she's not necessarily in love with them either.

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_00]: She's not saying, well, I'm going to abandon the humans

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_00]: and protect The Apes above all else.

[00:07:25] [SPEAKER_00]: It's I'll help you, The Apes, that is,

[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_00]: because these other apes are endangering you

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_00]: and they're clearly not having the world's best interests at heart.

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_00]: But at the same time, I'm still going to go my own way

[00:07:37] [SPEAKER_00]: and I still have the humans to think about

[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_00]: and I'm going to do what I can to help them because they're my people,

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_00]: just as the apes are theirs.

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_00]: And I found that to be a very refreshing idea,

[00:07:49] [SPEAKER_00]: and I hadn't really seen that in the Caesar trilogy,

[00:07:52] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, maybe a little bit, but I think it's used the best in this one.

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's what helps set itself apart from those three other movies.

[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_00]: So overall, it is very worth watching.

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_00]: I think even if you haven't seen the Caesar trilogy or the original franchise,

[00:08:09] [SPEAKER_00]: you could still easily pop this one on and understand most of what's going on.

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm curious to see where they go.

[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I know this one didn't do as well financially as they had hoped,

[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_00]: but sadly that seems to just be the normal thing now with the Planet of the Apes films.

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_00]: They do OK. They do pretty well critically for the most part,

[00:08:29] [SPEAKER_00]: but financially they're never huge hits, I guess.

[00:08:33] [SPEAKER_00]: But it's definitely one of my favorites of the year,

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_00]: maybe top five right around the five, six mark ranking wise.

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_00]: We'll never tire of getting more apes movies.

[00:08:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's such a refreshing part of Hollywood now,

[00:08:47] [SPEAKER_00]: and I'm glad that they are at least to this point continuing them.

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_00]: So that one is a heavy four out of five.