For what it’s worth, the recent Planet of the Apes movies have gone on a decline that was similar to the original movies that came out over 50 years ago. After the mediocre 2001 version directed by Tim Burton and starring Mark Wahlberg doing his “Hey, donkey” routine, the movie ended with a stunner that it never fully delivered on.
A decade passed before the rebooted Rise of the Planet of the Apes managed to wow us. I don’t remember much of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes except for the scene with the chimpanzee and the M-16 rifle. War of the Planet of the Apes seemed to wrap everything up nicely. But the 10th entry in the franchise shows signs of running out of ideas the same way Battle of the Planet of the Apes was the weakest in the original entry.
About 300 years has passed since the events of War and there are rusted metal remains of human civilization. Caesar (played perfectly by Andy Serkis) is dead but has been immortalized both good and bad by the rest of the apes. The focus this time is on a young chimpanzee, Noa (Owen Teague), who sets out on a trek to rescue his mother and other members of the tribe when they are kidnapped by a clan led by Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), a bonobo chimp who has been used the abducted chimps as slaves.
If you’re already bored, then you’re not alone. At about two-and-a-half hours long, this movie takes a good concept and again waste it with a cliched trope that’s been done before. About 35 years ago, there was a sci-fi movie Alien Nation about alien humanoids on a slave starship landing in southern California. The movie gave the impression it was going to be a focus on racism and bigotry. And then, we got a police procedural about drug manufacturing. With all due respect, the series based on the movie did much better but because it was on the fledging Fox Network at the time, it was canceled after one season.
And why is Proximus abducting other apes? There’s a vault near a beachfront that is housing a lot of human technology that Proximus wants the apes to open for him. Proximus’ soldiers use electric shock sticks to corral and abduct the other apes. I guess there is something here about the slave trade and oppression with tools and authority, a species will turn on itself, but it’s never made clear.
There’s few human characters in this movie. The main one is a young woman, Mae (Freya Allan), who Noa encounters on his journey to Proximus’ compound. She later meets Trevathan (William H. Macy) who is Proximus’ advisor and he begins to teach Mae about human history. And there is a crucial scene between the two that revolves around how humans treat each other is any different than how the apes treat each other.
One concept the 2001 movie hinted at but no one has really touched on is how the chimps, gorillas and even orangutans differ in personalities and class. At one point, a gorilla is upset over being called a monkey. I know some filmmakers don’t want to touch on race and prejudice but these movies have only skimmed the surface. In Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the gorillas that sided with the humans and helped them hunt down the other apes were called “donkeys.” It was obviously a derogatory term and when one is executed by gunshot without hesitation for disobeying, it really touched on an ugliness in human history.
While this movie doesn’t need that, the tired capture-and-rescue format doesn’t really fit. And orangutan, Raka (Peter Macon), makes a comment on how people have besmirched the legacy of Ceasar but it’s just mentioned in passing and not really focused on. The plot has a great set-up as Noa and other young chimps are participating in a coming-of-age ceremony in which they find wild eagle eggs and have to take care of them. They also practice falconry.
These two ideas make for a better idea that just having the apes fight each other again. One of the best Star Trek movies is the fourth one in which Captain Kirk and his bridge team travel back in time to find humpback whales. There was no main antagonist. It was like an adventure story with humor about the cultural and time differences. Now that the apes have started to form their own civilizations, this could have been a good adventure story,
Yet, I feel Hollywood has to bring out the same tired concepts to repeat over and over. And since this movie is released by 20th Century Studios and its parent company, Disney, it has a particular format and style to get butts in seats. The format is identical in many ways to the previous entry, War of the Planet of the Apes. Produced on a budget of $160 million, it’s made about $400 million at the box office. But I talked with someone who has been an avid Apes fan for years. She said she slept through most of the movie.
And now, I can see why. This is a 90-minute flick stretched very thin.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 