Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
2024, PG-13, 145 min. Directed by Wes Ball. Starring Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Peter Macon, Lydia Peckham, Travis Jeffery, Kevin Durand.
REVIEWED By Richard Whittaker, Fri., May 10, 2024
Don’t underestimate apes: They’re always smarter than you think. Similarly, while the Planet of the Apes movies are sold as action-adventures featuring super-sentient simians, they have always been host to ambitious and evolving metaphors. For the 1968 original, Michael Wilson and Rod Serling took French author Pierre Boulle’s La Planète des singes (with its subtext of “intelligence: use it or lose it”) and turned it into a Cold War nuclear terror fever dream. Over time, multiple movies, and a not-so-memorable TV show, it became a cry against animal testing and for humane treatment of humanlike species. When Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver were hired to pen 2011’s reboot, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the metaphor had evolved again and continued to develop across two sequels, to critique humanity’s hubristic belief that it should always be at the top of the food chain.
With that trilogy complete, and the tale of chimpanzee Caesar’s rise from experimental subject to messiah and martyr complete, the fourth film in the reboot series needed to find fresh purpose. What are these films without Caesar? Well, scriptwriter Josh Friedman has taken that question and extended it out to its logical conclusion: What is this world without Caesar, the ape that led all other apes to freedom?
For teenage chimp Noa (Teague, Montana Story), it’s one of simple challenges. He is the son of the master of birds, for in the intervening decades since Ceaser’s death his troupe has become a fully-fledged clan, living in elevated nests in the wreckage of human construction, rearing golden eagles as hunting birds. For bonobo King Proximus (Durand, Abigail), it’s a quest for power, to become more like the humans of old and to take their tools as his own. Both their idylls are disrupted by the most unexpected of interlopers: Nova (Allan), a human who somehow is immune to the virus that annihilated most of humanity, robbed the rest of speech and intellect, and put apes in charge.
Friedman’s script plays as a fascinating counterpoint to the year’s other literary-based sci-fi blockbuster sequel, Dune Part Two. Both are ultimately about religion, but Denis Villeneuve’s dissection of Frank Herbert’s sandy classic is explicit about it. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes leaves it mostly to the subtext through the inheritance of Caesar, the ape who said that ape shall not hurt ape and still sought some kind of amicable distance from the old rulers of the Earth. It is about heresy and devotion, compliance and complicity, about how texts can be forgotten and manipulated, all personified in a perfectly idiosyncratic performance by The Orville’s Peter Macon as Raka, the hermit orangutan who believes in the kindest legends of Caesar.
At the story’s heart is the question of who is the true follower of Caesar: Noa, who knew nothing of his name or works, or Proximus, who knows and claims that inheritance but understands nothing. It’s another extraordinary performance from Durand, who catches both the menace and tragedy of a creature who is wrestling with concepts that elude him. As much as you’ll hope for regicide, his is a remarkable depiction of an idiot king: He’s a more violent but no less deluded version of another self-proclaimed king, Louie from Walt Disney’s The Jungle Book, unhinged by his quest for Man’s Red Flower.
Yet the problem remains that, as with the opening trilogy, the humans are by far the least interesting element of the story. A lengthy coda gives further hints of what will come in proposed sequels, but they are questions that don’t yet seem to be worth asking. If anything, the human legacy often seems disruptive, so when Proximus’ warriors use electric cattle prods, it’s hard not to wonder where they’re getting their working batteries from. (I can’t stop mine leaking after a few months, never mind a decade or seven.)
But the apes, the apes remain the dramatic and technological heart of these films. There’s no second at which they do not appear like living, breathing entities, and the software has advanced so far that they no longer seem like people under a CG mask. But the software would mean nothing without meaningful performances. Teague especially imbues Noa with the burdened tragedy of the first born who fears failure – a fear entertainingly re-enforced through his constant harassment by his “big brother,” his father’s eagle, who he tellingly calls Eagle Son. Noa may not be Caesar's heir as leader of the apes, but he definitely walks in his footsteps as a worthy protagonist in the latest iteration of this ever-intriguing sci-fi classic.
Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline
14028 Hwy. 183 N., 512/861-7070, www.drafthouse.com/austin/theater/lakeline
Sun., May 26
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Alamo Drafthouse Mueller
1911 Aldrich #120, 512/572-1425, drafthouse.com/austin/theater/mueller
Sun., May 26
Mon., May 27
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Wed., May 29
Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter Lane
5701 W. Slaughter, 512/861-7060, drafthouse.com/austin/theater/slaughter-lane
Showtimes at this venue are subject to frequent change. Please confirm daily times by phone or website.
Sun., May 26
Mon., May 27
Tue., May 28
Wed., May 29
Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar
1120 S. Lamar, 512/861-7040, www.drafthouse.com/theater/south-lamar
Sun., May 26
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Tue., May 28
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AMC Dine-In Tech Ridge 10
12625 N. I-35, 512/640-1533, www.amctheatres.com
Sun., May 26
Mon., May 27
Tue., May 28
Wed., May 29
Barton Creek Square (AMC)
2901 Capital of Texas Hwy. S., 512/306-1991, www.amctheatres.com
Matinee discounts available before 4pm daily. Bring Your Baby matinees the first Tuesday of every month.
Sun., May 26
Mon., May 27
Tue., May 28
Wed., May 29
Cinemark 20 and XD
N. I-35 & FM 1825, 512/989-8535
Cost for 3-D and XD shows is regular ticket price plus a premium.
Sun., May 26
Mon., May 27
Tue., May 28
Wed., May 29
Cinemark Cedar Park
1335 E. Whitestone, Cedar Park, 800/326-3264
Call theatre for complete list of movies and showtimes.
Sun., May 26
Mon., May 27
Tue., May 28
Wed., May 29
Cinemark Hill Country Galleria 14
12812 Hill Country Blvd., 800/326-3264, www.cinemark.com/theater_showtimes.asp?theater_id=377
Sun., May 26
Mon., May 27
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Cinemark Round Rock
4401 N. I-35, Round Rock, 800/326-3264
Cost for 3-D shows is regular ticket price plus a $3.50 premium. Call theatre for complete March 26-28 showtimes.
Sun., May 26
Mon., May 27
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Cinemark Stone Hill Town Center
18820 Hilltop Commercial Dr., 512/251-0938, www.cinemark.com
Sun., May 26
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City Lights Theatre
420 Wolf Ranch Parkway, Georgetown, 512/868-9922
Sun., May 26
Mon., May 27
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Wed., May 29
Evo Cinemas Belterra
166 Hargraves Ste. A-100, 512/457-0700, www.evocinemas.com/belterra
Sun., May 26
Mon., May 27
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Thu., May 30
EVO Entertainment
3200 Kyle Crossing, Kyle, 512/523-9009, www.evo-entertainment.com
Sun., May 26
Mon., May 27
Tue., May 28
Wed., May 29
Film Alley Bastrop
1600 Chestnut St, Bastrop, 512/321-0123, bastrop.filmalley.net/
Sun., May 26
Mon., May 27
Tue., May 28
Wed., May 29
Flix Brewhouse
2200 S. I-35, Round Rock, 512/244-3549, www.flixbrewhouse.com/round-rock
Sun., May 26
Mon., May 27
Tue., May 28
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Thu., May 30
Galaxy Highland 10
6700 Middle Fiskville, 512/467-7305, www.galaxytheatres.com
No one under 18 will be allowed in the theatre on Friday or Saturday after 7pm without an adult.
Sun., May 26
Mon., May 27
Tue., May 28
Wed., May 29
Gateway Theatre
9700 Stonelake, 512/416-5700
Discounts daily before 6pm. Cost for 3-D shows is regular ticket price plus a $3.50 premium.
Sun., May 26
Mon., May 27
Tue., May 28
Wed., May 29
Thu., May 30
iPic Theaters Austin
3225 Amy Donovan Plaza, 512/568-3400, www.ipic.com
Sun., May 26
Mon., May 27
Tue., May 28
Wed., May 29
Sun., May 26
Mon., May 27
Tue., May 28
Wed., May 29
Metropolitan
901 Little Texas, 512/447-0101
Discounts daily before 6pm. Cost for 3-D shows is regular ticket price plus a $3.50 premium.
Sun., May 26
Mon., May 27
Tue., May 28
Wed., May 29
Thu., May 30
Moviehouse & Eatery
8300 FM 620 N., Bldg. B, 512/501-3520, www.cinepolisusa.com/our-theaters/x0nud-moviehouse-and-eatery-nw-austin/
Sun., May 26
Mon., May 27
Tue., May 28
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Thu., May 30
Moviehouse & Eatery - Lantana Place
7415 Southwest Pkwy., Bldg. 7, 512/572-0770, www.cinepolisusa.com/our-theaters/x1195-moviehouse-and-eatery-sw-austin/
Sun., May 26
Mon., May 27
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Thu., May 30
Southwest Theaters at Lake Creek 7
13729 Research #1500, 512/291-3158, www.southwesttheaters.com
$6.50 children and senior tickets (all-day), $5 Tuesdays (all tickets), Bargain Matinees before 5pm daily.
Sun., May 26
Mon., May 27
Tue., May 28
Wed., May 29
Thu., May 30
The Spot Cinema Eatery & Social Haus
1180 Thorpe Lane #130, San Marcos, 512/210-8600, www.evo-entertainment.com/locations/the-spot/
Sun., May 26
Mon., May 27
Tue., May 28
Wed., May 29
Westgate 11
4477 S. Lamar, 512/899-2717
Discounts daily before 6pm. Cost for 3-D shows is regular ticket price plus a $3.50 premium.
Sun., May 26
Mon., May 27
Tue., May 28
Wed., May 29
Thu., May 30
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Kimberley Jones, Jan. 26, 2018
Kimberley Jones, Sept. 18, 2015
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Wes Ball, Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Peter Macon, Lydia Peckham, Travis Jeffery, Kevin Durand