I have always like the Planet of the Apes movies with Planet of the Apes (2001) been my favorite with Mark Wahlberg, Erick Avari, Michael Duncan, Elena Carter, Kris Kristofferson, this movie had quite the cast but looks like almost none of them get respectable scores online, the 2001 release had over 200k reviews on IMDB and only got a 5.7/10 got destroyed.
This time comes Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024) that started its development on 2019 and on 2022 20th Century Studios announced the start of filming for this new version of the movie that is the number ten on the list for the franchise and the first one to be part of the Disney+ brand, would not be crazy if we get an animated series in the future but I doubt since this franchise is more for adults than kids, the 2024 version is based on the characters created by Pierre Boulle in his 1963 novel with its firs adaptation on 1968 with the same title Planet of the Apes with Charlton Heston.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is a direct sequel to War for the Planet of the Apes, humans now live in the wild suggesting that after the events of War for the Planet of the Apes potentially the spread of the simian flu have led to the decline of human society and humans have regressed to a more primitive state, the original trilogy focused more on Cesar's group, it has now been revealed that apes had gained intelligence worldwide becoming equals to humans. This sequel talks about other group of apes, others who are more ruthless and less peaceful than Cesar's clan. The trailer for the movie specifically showcase a human called Mae, she is different than the rest, showing more sings of intelligence that could become a risk to the apes current rulers.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18177528/
- Platform: Theaters
- Release: May 10, 2024
Well balance the Cast
The film features a talented cast, Freya Allan captivated audiences with her role as Princess Cirilla in the successful series The Witcher, well successful around those who are not hardcore fans but none the less. In this movie, she plays the role of Mae, a girl who appears to possess knowledge about the technology that will be revealed in the movie. Next on the list Kevin Durand who gained recognition for his role as Martin Keamy in Lost, and later appeared in productions such as X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Robin Hood, and I Am Number Four. Dichen Lachman rose to well known for series like Neighbours and play the role of the mysterious Sierra in Dollhouse, also appearing in Jurassic World Dominion in 2022. William H. Macy is known for his performance as Jerry Lundegaard in Fargo and his role of the troubled patriarch Frank Gallagher in Shameless. Owen Teague gained recognition for his role as Patrick Hockstetter in the horror hit It, and later appeared in projects such as Black Mirror and Mrs. Fletcher. Peter Macon gained audience recognition with his portrayal of Lieutenant Commander Bortus in the science fiction comedy series The Orville. Sara Wiseman is recognized for her role as Carolyn Bligh in A Place to Call Home and the series Rake and High Country.
As you can tell quite a diverse cast who have work on multiple type of production, some more successful than others but its my opinion that as most others Planet of the Apes movies this might not be a block buster but a very entertaining movie, I have seen some of the franchise movies more than once and they still captivating.
Behind the Camera: Wes Ball
Leading this adventure is director Wes Ball, known for his work on the Maze Runner series, where he directed the entire saga, before jumping into the world of apes, Wes Ball collaborated with Matt Reeves who was the director of the last two movies of the Planet of the Apes franchise, on the movie Mouse Guard which unfortunately was canceled after the Disney / Fox merger. Despite this setback Ball’s previous work showcased his talent, making him a fitting choice to direct the latest chapter in the Planet of the Apes saga. Its been some time since we have seen him as a director or at least that's what I could find based on his public profiles as director, although besides Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes he is also the director for the upcoming project of The Legend of Zelda a movie that will peal a lot of eyes and get a lot of interest from the audience world wide been about such as iconic game.
Peek into the Story: Noa & Mae
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is set in a world dominated by apes and follows the story of a young ape who embarks on a journey that challenges everything he knows about his past, this is not the story of Cesar anymore, this time around we have Noa, for anyone who has been watching the latest three movies. As a new tyrannical leader of the apes emerges the protagonist and rest of main characters including humans, Mae a girl who evidently look way more intelligent and advance than the rest of humans, finds themself in constant trouble specially Noa who himself questioning his beliefs and forging his own path forward. Along the way Noa encounters a young human woman named Mae, who remains a mystery for everyone as speculated may be an astronaut and seems to possess knowledge about the technology that will be revealed in the movie, technology that can unite humans and apes, everywhere they talk about this tech but not much has been explain apart form the trailer. The working title of this movie during production was Forbidden Zone, suggesting that Mae may originate from the forbidden zone where a spaceship may have crashed, subsequently encountering Noa and accompanying him on his journey.
Overcoming Challenges
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024) was one of those movies who got impact drastically by the Pandemic since script development was happening around the same time COVID-19 was in full force this change drastically all release dates and distribution plans, facing all kind of safety protocols we talking millions been spend on of movies like this so it needed to be done, I would only imagine all this productions delays and logistical issues only increase the the budget and cut down some other corners to make this happen, production probably encountered all kind of obstacles along the way having to recreate a new environment for the movie as the story is setup 300 years after the events of the previous movie War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) having to create a new environment, not everything is build from scratch with new technology and AI but there still space needed to create such scenario. This new iteration of The Planet of the Apes aim to launch a new trilogy centered around the character of Noa probably extending the franchise to 12 movies in total started back in the 60s.
I'm always interested on this type of movies where society and the entire planet changes completely even if its just humans or in this case apes, its like exploring a new world and this carry many details into the story and scenario where everything happens, its the details that keeps me entertain since you are basically exploring a new world. On the other hand as I mention the audience might be just tired of watching humans and apes fight on every one of this movies so there must be something new an unique on this one that sets it aside from the rest but I quite doubt it so it must have quite good CGI and costumes to impress viewers or something on the plot that makes it special, just the fight humans vs apes wont cut it.
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