2h 25m
Director: Wes Ball

If you liked the most recent trilogy then I think you'll enjoy this too as it just feels like a new chapter in the series.

The movie starts by cremating Caesar, the hero ape from the previous trilogy.

Noa is the heir to the 'eagle clan', they raise eagles and sing to them to identify themselves. The bonobos raid their village, destroying everything, taking prisoners and killing many.

Noa sets off in search of any surviving members of his clan. He meets Raka, a wise and virtuous ape who has devoted his life to Caesar and his teachings and he educates Noa about Caesar. He also meets Mae (who the apes call Nova), an especially intelligent human who can speak which is unknown amongst the species. Eventually Noa arrives at the gorilla stronghold to find they are being led by Proximus Caesar, a Caesar impersonator who twists and hides behind the words of the legendary ape.

Proximus Caesar has realised that the humans used to have great technology, some of which he believes to be stored inside a bunker which the apes have been trying to access for some time.

I'm going to say flawless CGI just because it is so good that it's rarely ever jarring, every shot and background looks superb and sometimes you find yourself asking what's real and what's digital. The CGI easily competes with prior entries in the series.

At the climax of the movie, Noa sings to attract the eagles to help him, the rest of his clan joins in.
I felt this was a missed opportunity to do a twist on Caesars maxim, "apes together strong".

In the end Mae (nova) leaves the apes to seek out other humans, she has a key device which she secretly took from the bunker which she hands over, the humans use it to activate a communications array which allows them to make contact with other human settlements. The humans by the way are well dressed, can speak and seem to have quite an advanced understanding of the technology they have access to.

I gather that this is the first part in a new trilogy and I think it serves its purpose very well. So the set up is similar to the recent trilogy except that humans appear to be as advanced as a modern human which should up the stakes a tad. It feels complete as a stand alone story but definitely leaves room for more. If you're already into the series then this makes a decent latest entry.



Trailer: