I didn’t watch many movies growing up so as a fun hobby, my husband and I have been catching up on all the titles I missed out on. We’ve made our way through the Batman and Spiderman series and have recently embarked on watching the Planet of the Apes saga. Prior to May 2024, I had never seen any of the movies or even knew what they were about, but I can honestly say they are one of my favorite series now. 

We recently went on a movie date to see the newest movie, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, on the big screen. Overall, I’d rate it a 9.5 out of 10, and I was pleasantly surprised with just how much I liked it. Usually, I dislike big changes in a series, but this one did it really well. 

Now, if you’re not a fan of spoilers, here’s your forewarning. I’ll be mentioning details from the movie, so if you haven’t seen it yet, make sure to go check out some of my other posts and come back to this one after you’ve watched the movie. Let me know what you thought of the movie in a comment down below. 

Personally, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this installment of the saga since the trailer looked like it introduced completely new characters from the original three movies. Over the course of binging the series, I had grown to really enjoy Caesar’s story and all of his supporting cast. 

I enjoyed watching Caesar’s progression from the first movie to the third movie and how he gained the trust and respect of the apes over time. It was very sad to see him die, but I was glad he had the opportunity to lead his group to safety after the huge fight with the rogue military in War for the Planet of the Apes. 

He always thought apes were stronger together, and thus made the ultimate sacrifice to give them the best chance of survival. In a way, Noa’s character arc was completely different from Caesar’s, especially since he started off timid and was searching for acceptance from his father. It seemed that over the course of the movie, Noa gained his confidence and really came into his own as a young ape.  

From beginning to end, it was written well. There was the mystery of Proximus Caesar’s hunters to hook you initially and then there was the intricate lie spun by Mae that left you speechless at the end. There were plot twists throughout that kept you on your toes and holding your breath for whatever happened next. I can honestly say there weren’t any moments of the movie that were super predictable.  

I’m extremely glad none of Noa’s childhood friends or his mother died. I always hate seeing characters that you’ve gone an entire movie getting attached to just killed off towards the end. I’m also glad it ended on a cliffhanger to indicate there will be more movies coming in the future. 

Let’s talk about Proximus Caesar for a second. He appeared to be the bad guy on the surface by ripping the apes from their individual clans but there’s an argument to be made whether he was actually wrong or if his approach was just wrong. At the end of the day, he was correct in needing to get the technology in the vault before the humans to secure the apes’ place in the world. He just went about bringing everyone together into one big kingdom the wrong way. 

Since there were tanks, weapons, and important intelligence like satellite coordinates and whatnot, the apes would’ve definitely had the upper hand against any attempt the humans would’ve made to regain control over the world. However, because Noa trusted Mae, you can argue he set into motion their potential demise. 

Still thinking she was a helpless human in distress, I assumed she was going back to the rest of her family at the end of the movie. Instead of a warm family reunion, she actually revealed that there were a lot of humans like her working incredibly hard to rebuild their communications, infrastructure, and intelligence to mobilize against the apes. I couldn’t believe she was a whole agent sent to infiltrate the apes and get a leg up on them. 

One of the craziest things in the whole movie is how Mae completely fooled Noa to get the data disk back to the other bunker. She didn’t care about the life the apes had built. She was only focused on what she needed to do to help her humans survive and get back to thriving. Even though she intended to shoot him at the end of the movie, Noa showed her mercy and grace, which stopped her from following through with it. 

In a lot of ways, this movie can be extrapolated to how groups of humans start getting off code with each other and thus falling into traps, blunders, and unnecessary trials because of it. The same way Caesar told his family “Apes strong together”, there is strength in numbers for humans too. 

I think they’ll definitely end up making at least two more movies, and I know for a fact my husband and I will go see them in theaters. I think the storyline is trending towards the humans gearing up for a massive fight with the apes to regain control over the planet. If I had to guess, Noa will eventually die and the rest of the apes will be subdued like they were before their intelligence was increased. Regardless, I can’t wait to see what happens next in the series! 

If you enjoyed this episode, let me know by giving this video a thumbs up, leaving a comment, and subscribing to my channel. I’ll see you in the next episode! 

Signed, 

Jessica Marie