145 min | PG-13 | May 10, 2024 | 20th Century Studios
The Apes franchise jumps forward generations and finds a new story worth telling. The motion capture is stunning. The world-building is patient. Caesar’s shadow looms over everything.
Several generations after Caesar’s death, ape civilization has evolved. Humans have devolved into feral, mute scavengers. A young chimpanzee named Noa lives peacefully in an eagle-bonding clan until a tyrannical bonobo named Proximus Caesar raids his village. Noa sets out on a journey to rescue his clan and encounters a human woman named Mae who is not what she appears to be. The film picks up the franchise’s themes of power and coexistence and reframes them for a world where apes have won and must decide what kind of civilization to build.
Owen Teague plays Noa through motion capture with a naturalism that makes you forget the technology. He is young and uncertain and brave without being foolish. The performance captures an ape learning that the world is larger and more dangerous than his village. Kevin Durand plays Proximus Caesar with megalomaniacal intelligence. He has read human books. He worships Caesar’s legacy while corrupting it. Freya Allan plays Mae with a watchfulness that conceals her true purpose. Peter Macon plays Raka, an orangutan who preserves Caesar’s teachings, with gentle wisdom.
Wes Ball directs with a confidence that earns the film’s patience. The first act takes its time building Noa’s world and the eagle-bonding culture that defines his clan. The world-building is the film’s greatest achievement. The overgrown ruins of human civilization are rendered with haunting beauty. The motion capture and VFX from Weta are the best the technology has ever produced. The apes look real. The environments feel lived in. The score by John Paesano is sweeping without being overbearing.
The franchise could have ended with War for the Planet of the Apes. That film was a definitive conclusion. This one proves there is more to say. The question of what happens after the revolution is more interesting than the revolution itself. Noa’s journey mirrors Caesar’s in structure but differs in meaning. Caesar fought for freedom. Noa fights for understanding. The film sets up a new trilogy with intelligence and ambition.