I don't know if it's just me because in the past 52 hours I have watched all of the Planet of the Apes movies (excluding Tim Burton's horrible 2001 version) but it seemed to me that this movie was just OK.
Taking place "many, many generations" after Caesar dies, an ape named Noa and his two friends are going through a rite of passage that has to deal with collecting hawks' eggs when an intruder comes into camp breaking the egg he has collected and was holding for the ceremony the next day. Therefore, he needs to go and collect another egg before said ceremony. While he is out, he runs into a band of apes hurting other apes and they track him back to his village, which they decimate and bring Noa's clan into servitude. Noa escapes and seeks out his family and comes across an orangutan named Raka, and they both encounter a human woman who, it turns out, can talk. They are captured and brought to the palace of Proximus Caesar, an evil gorilla who desires to have all apes under his kingdom.
While there are many, many nods to the original 1968 film (including musical cues) and the movie had very stunning visual effects, the story itself was kind of lethargic when it wasn't in set piece mode.
The acting - with a couple of exceptions - was just okay and this is an indication that future movies need a protagonist that meets the stature of Andy Serkis and Roddy McDowell. Owen Teague as Noa, is barely adequate and the same can be said for Freya Allen as Mae, the talking human. She obviously has ulterior motives, but her performance doesn't. The only three actors in the film that are worth mentioning are Peter Macon as Raka, the orangutan, whose motion capture seems to show his jovial good nature and charm, William H. Macy (yeah! That guy!!!) as a human who educates Proximus Caesar on human history and literature and who radiates the word "collaborator" and finally the great character actor Kevin Durand, as big bad Proximus himself. Durand, as he always does, radiates menace.
There's no reason that this story could not have been accomplished in less than 145 minutes and it just seems that nowadays the name of the game is to make movies longer for the sake of making movies longer. This movie really dragged, not because of any poor story choices (because the story itself was decent), but because of poor choices in the editing room.
I see where this movie trilogy is going and it's fine but is the next motion picture going to be two hours and 45 minutes long and the final movie in this trilogy going to be three hours long? These are Planet of the Apes movies - we're not the defining Pi. The notion that somehow longer is better is absolutely ridiculous.
This is the worst of the reboot films since 2011
Yeah, watch it because it's not horrible but it could give you a headache (although I may have a headache because I forgot my eyeglasses when I went to the movie theater but, thankfully, I sat in the fourth row and my eyesight isn't that messed up that I couldn't see)
If you're into monkeys, WATCH IT - Otherwise, Skip it
3/5.
Taking place "many, many generations" after Caesar dies, an ape named Noa and his two friends are going through a rite of passage that has to deal with collecting hawks' eggs when an intruder comes into camp breaking the egg he has collected and was holding for the ceremony the next day. Therefore, he needs to go and collect another egg before said ceremony. While he is out, he runs into a band of apes hurting other apes and they track him back to his village, which they decimate and bring Noa's clan into servitude. Noa escapes and seeks out his family and comes across an orangutan named Raka, and they both encounter a human woman who, it turns out, can talk. They are captured and brought to the palace of Proximus Caesar, an evil gorilla who desires to have all apes under his kingdom.
While there are many, many nods to the original 1968 film (including musical cues) and the movie had very stunning visual effects, the story itself was kind of lethargic when it wasn't in set piece mode.
The acting - with a couple of exceptions - was just okay and this is an indication that future movies need a protagonist that meets the stature of Andy Serkis and Roddy McDowell. Owen Teague as Noa, is barely adequate and the same can be said for Freya Allen as Mae, the talking human. She obviously has ulterior motives, but her performance doesn't. The only three actors in the film that are worth mentioning are Peter Macon as Raka, the orangutan, whose motion capture seems to show his jovial good nature and charm, William H. Macy (yeah! That guy!!!) as a human who educates Proximus Caesar on human history and literature and who radiates the word "collaborator" and finally the great character actor Kevin Durand, as big bad Proximus himself. Durand, as he always does, radiates menace.
There's no reason that this story could not have been accomplished in less than 145 minutes and it just seems that nowadays the name of the game is to make movies longer for the sake of making movies longer. This movie really dragged, not because of any poor story choices (because the story itself was decent), but because of poor choices in the editing room.
I see where this movie trilogy is going and it's fine but is the next motion picture going to be two hours and 45 minutes long and the final movie in this trilogy going to be three hours long? These are Planet of the Apes movies - we're not the defining Pi. The notion that somehow longer is better is absolutely ridiculous.
This is the worst of the reboot films since 2011
Yeah, watch it because it's not horrible but it could give you a headache (although I may have a headache because I forgot my eyeglasses when I went to the movie theater but, thankfully, I sat in the fourth row and my eyesight isn't that messed up that I couldn't see)
If you're into monkeys, WATCH IT - Otherwise, Skip it
3/5.