'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' is a Frustrating Spectacle | Movie Review

Dave, Devindra, and Jeff are joined by Roxana Hadadi to review the newest films in the Planet of the Apes film series, directed by Wes Ball.
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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Intro
1:49 - Roxana's Overall Thoughts
3:08: Devindra's Overall Thoughts
6:12 - Jeff's Overall Thoughts
11:11 - Dave's Overall Thoughts
16:54 - Spoiler Conversation
43:18 - Outro
#planetoftheapes #kingdomoftheplanetoftheapes

[@ZachMilneTalksMovies]

What Wes Ball did with this movie astounded me! Continuing the story of Caesar by exploring his legacy as an almost religious figure was brilliant. On top of that the VFX were immaculate and the performances just as impressive. An epic return to this world that has me wanting a lot more!

[@Toby-asdf]

“Exploring his legacy as an almost religious figure” uh…yeah. That wasn’t Wes Ball’s brilliance, he just picked up on what was incredibly obvious from ‘War,’ ya know the movie where Caesar was put on a St Andrew’s cross, led his people out from under the bondage of a Pharoah-type, and was miraculously saved by his enemies having been entirely engulfed by a form of water. Am I crazy, or do popular film-reviewer types just not notice these things?!

[@chazjohannsen]

I love this movie, saw it twice over the weekend. I The point of Mae looking like she did and wearing pants is to make you question why she doesn’t look like the other feral humans. It’s foreshadowing her allegiance with the other intelligent humans. And why is Caesar from War in the Thumbnail?

[@macmars92]

David Chen always has an expression like he knows you’re about to sit on a whoopee cushion and can’t hold back a smile

[@johnnycanuck2]

I think this is one of the more perplexing and nitpicky reviews from the crew in quite awhile. Many points raised about 'not needing things explained' but then over and over issues with the 'handwaving' of plot. IMO this film doesn't leave anything too large unanswered that can't be assumed based on character interactions or motivations, which are were all pretty clearly laid out for the viewer. The film wants you to empathize with all 3 of the main characters perspectives, but have issues with the ways in which every one of their perspectives played out and/or resolved. Love the review as always but felt frustrated with some of the discussion. Thanks for the reflection on the film as per usual!

[@HardcoreGamer101508]

Those three perspectives are not very interesting or nuanced or fleshed out like the characters in the previous three. It’s okay to not like a traditional, familiar blockbuster

[@VictorDiGiovanni]

Agree with Jeff entirely. The struggles this movie has derive from the fact that a Planet of the Apes film is required to have specific things in it, in this case the fact that there HAS to be a twist at the end. The second half of the film dragged and meandered and vagued itself to nowhere compelling because it was beholden to having some sort of human-based ending twist. We were fully invested in the new Ape community. They could have simply explored that for this film. Let Raka show up in the village one day with the words and teachings of Caesar. How does this community take in this bombshell philosophy. Then have Proximus show up looking to RECRUIT apes into his army in anticipation of rumors of humans being on the rise. Let Proximus be less cartoonish and more with a legit interpretation of Caesar's teachings, but in a military fashion. Let this even turn into a mini civil war among the various philosophies of Caesar interpretation. THEN you set up the appearance of Mae at the end of this film and still have the impending war with the bunker humans. But if you're going to tell this story with Mae as such a main character, you don't hold her story back as a twist, but present her like Kyle Reese, where we know what her deal is from the beginning, but maybe save her twist that her goal was to destroy it, or that she was going to betray them. But hiding the whole reveal of the bunker humans forced the movie to withhold too much otherwise logical storytelling we should have been able to experience.

[@pegacorn13]

I liked this movie a lot. It's not perfect or quite as good as the trilogy but it had a lot to offer but it's nonetheless a pretty fantastic film. I really enjoyed Noa as a character and I like that he is very different than Caesar. The problem is that it's hard to replicate the superb character building that was done in Rise, Dawn and War. There was just so much time, attention and care put into Caesar that the audience truly understood him, his personality, his conflicts and his motivations. We get to know him from infancy and the story is so well written that the audience becomes genuinely invested in his plight. That being said, I think Noa absolutely deserved his hero status: he showed incredible strength and bravery to save his clan. He uses his specialized skills, physical abilities and intelligence while overcoming his fear and his innately nonconfrontational nature to free his fellow apes. He absolutely earned his status as leader and with that came the ability to communicate with and essentially command the Eagles. I thought Proximus could have been more interesting and developed as well, however I thought Mae served the purpose as the villain just fine. Proximus was NOT creating a utopia! He was a selfish slave master who killed other apes for his personal/selfish agenda. Of course Noa and the others saw him as the villain and Mae as their ally! Mae led Noa to his clan who were being held captive and forced into slave labor: this is not rocket science. I'm really not getting all of your hate on her character. She's not dressed like a feral animal because she's not a feral animal like the other humans in the herd. And like all good villains, she is complex and conflicted rather than being black or white. The reason she was following the apes is that she couldn't get into the power station on her own: she used them and I don't think she had any plans to thank or reward them. In fact (as we see in the end) she intended to "end" them had she followed her mission correctly but she ended up getting to know and care for them. That's what makes her a good, conflicted "villain". I think that they set up her character perfectly and her conflicted nature will only grow as this story does. I see no need to replicate the Caesar/Koba dynamic plus there's no context here to do so. Proximus at his core really isn't like Koba at all: he reveres humans and their technology whereas Koba LOATHES humans and wants them all dead. Noa doesn't follow the "ape shall not kill ape" law because Proximus is a hypocrite using Caesar's name for personal gain: even Caesar broke his own law when Koba grew so out of control that he became a violent dictator like Proximus. Proximus and his crew are absolutely guilty here: he's pretending to be the next Caesar but he's cherry-picking from Caesar's teachings and utterly failing by murdering and enslaving other apes. What did you want Noa's clan to do? Follow a doctrine that we all know can't be followed 100% of the time while some lunatic named Proximus has kidnapped them, enslaved them and is actively murdering them? They do what anyone would do: they follow their new found champion in Noa who clicks every box when it comes to an effective leader when he risks everything to track them down and free them, fights against a brutal regime led by a slave master and uses his strength, intelligence and knowledge to lead his people and defeat a maniacal tyrant who only has his own interests at heart. The bunker humans didn't try to explore the outside world because there's a virus that literally destroys their cognitive abilities and ability to speak. Like you said, Mae is immune to the virus and that's why she was sent on the mission in the first place. I think you're getting ahead of yourself when criticizing the humans in the bunkers plotline: it's clearly setting up to explain this in subsequent films. That's part of what makes the story interesting and leaving us wanted more. You said that you didn't want to be spoon-fed answers yet you seem to feel the need to know every thing about what's happening in this world. The Planet of the Apes is an extremely complex story that involves time travel, evolution and devolution. Although the most recent trilogy was a linear tale, the whole of the franchise is not. In the end, this movie is not quite as good as it's predecessors but it's still a pretty fantastic addition to the franchise as a whole. I can't wait to see what they do next!

[@jermainehaslam5634]

War For The Planet of The Apes has the best CGI I've seen in a film and I really enjoyed Kingdom but it is a bit long, I looked forward to more of these films.

[@13hopefullelect71]

Ecclesiasticus 12:10-18 Never trust thine enemy: for like as iron rusteth, so is his wickedness. 11 Though he humble himself, and go crouching, yet take good heed and beware of him, and thou shalt be unto him as if thou hadst wiped a lookingglass, and thou shalt know that his rust hath not been altogether wiped away. 12 Set him not by thee, lest, when he hath overthrown thee, he stand up in thy place; neither let him sit at thy right hand, lest he seek to take thy seat, and thou at the last remember my words, and be pricked therewith. 13 Who will pity a charmer that is bitten with a serpent, or any such as come nigh wild beasts? 14 So one that goeth to a sinner, and is defiled with him in his sins, who will pity? 15 For a while he will abide with thee, but if thou begin to fall, he will not tarry. 16 An enemy speaketh sweetly with his lips, but in his heart he imagineth how to throw thee into a pit: he will weep with his eyes, but if he find opportunity, he will not be satisfied with blood. 17 If adversity come upon thee, thou shalt find him there first; and though he pretend to help thee, yet shall he undermine thee. 18 He will shake his head, and clap his hands, and whisper much, and change his countenance. This movie is a left handed prophecy about the fall of Esau Edom...the so called YT MAN..THE APES REPRESENT THE TRUE HOUSE OF JACOB,THE 12 TEIBES OF ISRAEL WHO ARE THE BLKS,LATINOS AND NATIVE AMERICANS

[@AllInTheGame01]

Wish they waited a full decade between this & the last Trilogy!

[@pleasestandby59]

It's been seven years since the last movie came out....

[@Toby-asdf]

I have come back to this channel/pod *only* for this review after ceasing to listen to y'all since 2017 when the last Apes film came out and how badly y'all misjudged that one. I was absolutely baffled by your takes on it especially regarding the ending where the avalanche came down and wiped out the majority of the humans and y'all all complained that it was deus ex machina and kept throwing around things like "lazy writing" and completely-like laughably so-missed the parallel to Caesar as the new Moses and the avalanche being his Red Sea moment. I listened to the pod consistently before then and in that moment y'all lost all credibility as trustworthy film critics in my eyes. And yet here it seems that you all retroactively now really liked that film. Its quite strange.

[@ebransc09]

Are you guys proposing Top Gun Ape?

[@TimothyMReynolds]

LOL : “BETWEEN THE PLANET OF THE APES”

[@HardcoreGamer101508]

I think casual moviegoers have lowered their standards and expectations quite a bit if they see an excellent film here. Compared to the first, it’s a lot safer, lacks the nuance and complexity of the human and ape characters from those earlier entries,including a formulaic villain. I guess people love safe, traditional blockbusters these days….