May 8, 2024
Many generations after the events of the first three films, the great Caesar was only a name in oral legends among apes. One day, three young chimps -- Noa (Owen Teague), Soona (Lydia Peckham) and Anaya (Travis Jeffery) -- risked life and limb to steal eagle eggs from nests as required in their tribe customs. However, before the ceremony the next morning, their settlement was invaded and destroyed by another tribe of bigger apes.
Noa, who was able to survive and avoid capture, rode out into the forest to look for his tribemates. He encountered Raka (Peter Macon), a wise old orangutan, the last survivor of a tribe that preserved Caesar's legacy. A female human whom they named Nova (Freya Allan) also went along with them. While crossing a bridge over a violent river, they encounter brutal apes who served their King -- Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand).
As this story happened supposedly centuries after Caesar, writer Josh Friedman and director Wes Ball had to rebuild a whole new world of civilized apes and savage humans. The first act took its time to introduce us to a tribe of chimpanzees that had a special relationship with eagles, represented by Noa, the central character of these new stories. The second act brought us to the world beyond Noa's ken just as he was discovering it himself.
While the computer-generated, motion-capture imagery of the chimps and apes were as impressive as before, the first two acts took quite a bit of time to tell its story and introduces its new characters. However, by the third act when Noa and Nova (who called herself Mae) were in the seaside kingdom of Proximus Caesar, that was only then that the main point of this reboot-sequel (and its own sequels to come, if ever) was fully revealed
The explosive wet and wild action set pieces of Act 3 set-up a renewed man vs. ape rivalry that started the whole franchise off in the original 1968 film. In setting this conflict up, I had questions aplenty about the timelines of the story. How could the events of Act 3 be logically possible if it actually happened 300 years after Caesar? Was there a time warp? Was there a time travel? I guess we'll see those answers in the sequel. 7/10
SPOILER ALERT
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It was strange how the way Mae et al talked, looked and dressed, as if no time had passed by since the present, much less 3 centuries into the future. The technology the humans had looked like they're from our time now, yet they are functioning without a hitch after 300 years? How long had that armory built into that seaside cliff been abandoned all these centuries? Hence I was thinking that a time event must have happened.
300 years of multiple human generations staying a secret from the apes is asking for a massive suspension of disbelief. Can humans remain under conditions requiring utmost discipline and loyalty for 300 years -- and actually cooperate? Are there William H. Macy's out there in cahoots with apes, yet keeping the existence of similar humans a secret for several generations without spilling any hints?
I liked the Ape part of the story where Noa had a rich and meaningful journey of discovery, not only about himself, but also about other Apes and their shared history. It's the Man part of the story I didn't like, and I also don't like where it seems to be leading, especially after seeing Mae's behavior in her interactions with Noa. In the coming face-off between Ape and Man (as surely coming up in the sequel), I'd actually side with the Apes!
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