The most advanced minds of the Planet of the Apes, with Lombrosian hairlines and furrowed eyebrows, reflect on their past: they know the importance of memory for the construction of a common identity and act accordingly, for better or for worse. It is the bad apples of the group who deny the roots: those who have canceled the founding principles to surrender themselves to the violence of power. There is a sticky parallel with contemporary American society, worn out by corruption and injustice, and with the feared advance of artificial intelligence in this powerfulwandering Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (Kingdom of the planet of the apes), directed by Wes Ball, author of the trilogy of Maze Runner and here also producer.
We are at the sequel to The War: Planet of the Apes (2017), fourth chapter of the reboot series based on the 1963 science fiction novel of the same name by Pierre Boullethe tenth film since, in 1968, Charlton Heston, the gladiator astronaut George Taylor, inaugurated the saga of the quadruman warriors.
The founder of the kingdom, the enlightened leader Caesar, has been dead for many years, the season of tolerance and pact with humans is a faded memory. «There was a time when humans and apes lived side by side. But that time is over.”. Gong strike, as used in the peplum Sixties. The furry species, divided into clans, has subjugated humans who are on the margins, persecuted and without a future. The great ball of the wicked is under the lash of Proximus Caesar, a madman with Macbeth’s crown who studies the history of Rome and searches for weapons to strengthen the regime, while in the distance the young chimpanzee Noa feels the revolutionary DNA stirring within himself: Like the Paul Atreides of Dunesis a prince who must reconquer the lost kingdom with wisdom and with the sword. «Monkeys hunt humans: that’s the law. But the law is wrong”, babbles the puppy who has a lot to learn before embarking on the career of the professional super monkey.
Eagle eggs in that world apart are a treasure, eagles are a resource. The Noa clan, rebellious towards Proximus, was enslaved and the village sacked. Hundreds of chimpanzees have been deported. Noa the intrepid tries to save them by teaming up with Raka, an orangutan who left Proximus, and a young human, Mae (Freya Allan)which seems to have just emerged from the arena of Hunger Games. The adventure is epic, pulpy, academic. Monkeys have human movements. Thanks to the computer, they express feelings. Emotions mark their faces, they experience fierce battles, in which the winning monkeys challenge the losing monkeys but the latter are ready to regain lost ground. They have good reasons to commit. Against them there is evil in which they can reflect and move straight towards the future.
Two and a half hours of horror grunts, ambushes, overpowering, idealistic bravehearts, the samurai and the magnificent 7, even Robin Hood and John Wick. In the film we run, we cross spears and sticks, fires arise. When asked, Ball replies that to convince him to tell the adventures of Caesar’s descendant, who died in The Warwas the idea “of a naive young monkey who knows nothing about the outside world and becomes a messiah.” Usual story: the training path, the dreams, the good plants and the bad plants, the bloodline. Ball explains that «if in the last three films the apes were in the stone age, now they are entering the bronze age». Yet, bad consciences and poor creatures have multiplied. The film is doughy, steep, environmentalist, quick and clever. He seems to be walking on a tightrope and sometimes loses his balance. It gives the idea of a gigantic gadget.
THE KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES by Wes Ball
(USA, 2024, 125′, The Walt Disney Company Italy)
with Freya Allan and the original voices of Owen Teague, Peter Macon, Kevin Durand, Dichen Lachman, William H. Macy
Rating: 3 minus minus out of 5
In the rooms
