My love for the "Planet of the Apes" franchise I'm afraid doesn't run particularly deep. I liked the trilogy that Matt Reeves provided, but I've never even seen the original run and, naturally, disliked Tim Burton's reimagining. I thought this one was reasonably good, but perhaps a bit lightweight.
Several generations after the death of Caesar, Noa (Owen Teague) sees his village burned and his friends and family captured and forced into slavery for a local tribal king, Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand). Noa sets off to rescue his tribe, joined by an aging Orangutan Raka (Peter Macon) who remembers the true teachings of Caesar and Nova (Freya Allan), a Human who has not fallen victim to the intelligence stripping virus.
I suppose, despite the many qualities the film does have, the main criticism I had was that it felt a bit like it was produced to keep a franchise going, rather than because there was some super compelling story that needed to be told. There is an interesting aspect to the plot that could be explored if this does go on to become another trilogy, that Caesar has become a mythic, perhaps even religious figure and, much like humans do, atrocity and oppression is happening in his name. The other main thrust of the plot would likely be the organisation of the remaining smart humans and I'd imagine, if this trilogy continues, that they'll take over as the antagonists.
It does look amazing though. The apes are photorealistic, and Weta remain the preeminent visual effects house in the world, at the moment. The action scenes are solid, and it might be laying the groundwork for some more interesting ideas and films in the future.
It was fine, I guess. Is the bottom line, but if it's going to continue, I'd like it to do something wholly more interesting.
Several generations after the death of Caesar, Noa (Owen Teague) sees his village burned and his friends and family captured and forced into slavery for a local tribal king, Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand). Noa sets off to rescue his tribe, joined by an aging Orangutan Raka (Peter Macon) who remembers the true teachings of Caesar and Nova (Freya Allan), a Human who has not fallen victim to the intelligence stripping virus.
I suppose, despite the many qualities the film does have, the main criticism I had was that it felt a bit like it was produced to keep a franchise going, rather than because there was some super compelling story that needed to be told. There is an interesting aspect to the plot that could be explored if this does go on to become another trilogy, that Caesar has become a mythic, perhaps even religious figure and, much like humans do, atrocity and oppression is happening in his name. The other main thrust of the plot would likely be the organisation of the remaining smart humans and I'd imagine, if this trilogy continues, that they'll take over as the antagonists.
It does look amazing though. The apes are photorealistic, and Weta remain the preeminent visual effects house in the world, at the moment. The action scenes are solid, and it might be laying the groundwork for some more interesting ideas and films in the future.
It was fine, I guess. Is the bottom line, but if it's going to continue, I'd like it to do something wholly more interesting.
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