Director Wes Ball’s 2024 stand-alone sequel to a rebooted trilogy of a famed simian-saturated sci-fi franchise moves to the 4K disc format in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, rated PG-13, 145 minutes, 2:39:1 aspect ratio, $49.99).
The story takes place 300 years after the intelligent, talking chimpanzee Caesar died after starting a revolution with his fellow apes against the humans and taking control of the world.
This devolution resulted from a man-made virus that had the reverse effect on humans by sapping their intellect and taking away their ability to speak.
Viewers learn of a young chimp named Noa (Owen Teague) from the eagle clan who goes on a journey of discovery after the death of his father at the hands of ape raiders.
He eventually must rescue his mother and enslaved clan from the egomaniacal Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), an ape looking to harness “ancient” man’s technology and control his species.
Noa may succeed with help from a talking female human named Mae, nicknamed Nova (Freya Allan), who has an agenda for helping her species, but it may already be too late for a corrupted ape kind.
The compassionate chimp exists in a world where apes will mistreat, harm and even kill others of their kind, becoming what Caesar most feared by following the evil ways of humans.
The film takes its glorious time unveiling a fairly standard plotline and villain, but it comes to life by a most impressive visual presentation.
“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is ultimately beautiful to behold but a bloated bridge movie that beckons viewers to stick with the franchise.
Considering its familiar place in the “Planet of the Ape” universes, I wouldn’t be surprised if the monkeys and humans go to war again or some time-traveling human astronauts make an appearance in future sequels.
4K in action: Weta FX’s computer-generated, motion-captured visual effects allow for the absolutely lifelike immersion into a primal world filled with talking apes and fully embrace the 4K format to deliver some eye-popping clarity while exposing the furry mammals.
The facial reactions, hair textures and eye movements are natural and seamless, enhanced by blemishes, age spots, hair movement, blinking, soaking-wet fur, hair singed by fire, pursing of lips, variations of teeth color and a full complement of emotions.
The apes are so realistic that they often make the human actors look amateurish in their performance. A moment with Noa’s father holding a falcon makes viewers forget that they are seeing a computer-generated illusion.
Moments taken for granted also include an ape riding a horse with birds flying over him and even the minutiae of spittle expelled from an angry gorilla general’s mouth in mid-combat.
The environments, night or day, equally complement the apes’ actions with lush forests, a burning village, a beachhead with a pond, a rock formation illuminated by the moonlight and a torch-lit massive metal vault.
To put it in perspective, I grew up adoring the original “Planet of the Apes” films and its 1960s state-of-the-art makeup effects, but what exists now is a head-shaking celebration of the visual effects artisans incomparable to older cinematic efforts.
Best extras: The included Blu-ray disc offers a nostalgic piece of very informative bonus content that used to be much more prevalent in the days when high definition discs were first available.
Titled “Inside The Lens: The Raw Cut,” viewers get to watch the entire film again, side by side horizontally, with the bottom screen focused on the creation of the movie magic seen via unfinished effects shots, storyboards, concept art, blue-screen sets and, most entertaining, the actors performing in motion-capture outfits.
This split-screen format with occasional pop-up boxes also gets supplemented with an optional commentary track by Mr. Ball, editor Dan Zimmerman and visual effects supervisor Erik Winquist.
They are often mired in the tech speak and are universally exhilarated at Weta’s mind-boggling artistry as they explain the building of scenes and performances.
This is by far one of the best extras to ever grace a home entertainment release in recent years, and I can think of no better way of diving deep into a complex production than using a comparative and detailed deconstruction sure to captivate fans and cinephiles.
Also included on the Blu-ray disc is a 23-minute overview of the production touching on the motion-capture process; hair and makeup designs; the story; building the apes eagle nest village; executing the bridge river scene; shooting on locations (and not in front of blue screens); and having actors learn to physically become apes via an “ape school.”
• Joseph Szadkowski can be reached at jszadkowski@washingtontimes.com.
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