‘Caesar is home…’
I should begin by making it clear that this article is in relation to the Planet of the Apes reboots starting with Rise of the Planet of the Apes in 2011. I’ve never seen the Charlton Heston movies although my obsession with being a completist dictates that one day I surely will. Anyway. Enough waffle. Let’s get started…
4. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)
If it felt like the death of Caesar at the end of War for the Planet of the Apes was the perfect end to the franchise then that’s because you were correct. It should have ended there. Kingdom isn’t a bad film by any stretch of the imagination. It has some stunning sequences visually. The plotting in the final act stretches credulity beyond breaking point, however, and the film misses the steady hand of Matt Reeves behind the camera.
The main issue with Kingdom is that it has no real reason to exist. It doesn’t add anything to the franchise. It doesn’t make me long for another sequel. It doesn’t make Caesar’s arc any more profound. Instead, it feels like just another franchise movie – a disappointment but an entertaining disappointment.
3. War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)
History is littered with franchises that couldn’t stick the landing. The third entry is often the moment when everything goes wrong. The Hunger Games, The Matrix, The Dark Knight… heck, even Star Wars, none of them managed to produce a second sequel that lived up to the first two movies (shout out to Rocky III and The Last Crusade though). While War of the Planet of the Apes wasn’t to be the final film in the franchise, it does at least close the book on the story of Caesar. And it does so beautifully.
The addition of Woody Harrelson playing against type as an absolute piece of shit is an interesting one and he adds a steely menace to a franchise often lacking in compelling human characters. Once again, however, this is all about the apes. Serkis continues to be the MVP and Reeves’ assured direction ensures that the many stunning action sequences really pop.
War of the Planet of the Apes is a fitting end to the Caesar era and a rare threequel that lives up to the films that preceded it – an unqualified success.
2. Dawn of the Planet Apes (2014)
This second entry in the Planet of the Apes reboot series saw Matt Reeves take over behind the camera with Toby Kebbell, Jason Clarke and Gary Oldman joining onscreen. The latter makes for a compelling villain (as he so often does) but Clarke is a poor substitute for James Franco in the previous entry.
While Dawn is probably the most visually impressive of all the new Apes movies, it doesn’t quite match the sheer scale of Rise. That being said, the struggle for dominance between Kebbell’s villainous Koba and Andy Serkis’ Caesar makes for a compelling contrast to the usual apes vs humans narrative and despite clocking in at over two hours, Reeves’ film clips along and never allows the action to sag for too long.
1. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
I know James Franco is persona non grata for some reason but I’ll be honest – I love him in this movie. Director Rupert Wyatt was relatively inexperienced at the time but he directs the hell out of this thing. He expertly allows the tension to build in the first half before unleashing hell in the second, and while some of the CGI looks a little shoddy by modern standards, that doesn’t take away from some of the finest action sequences of the 2010s.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a massively underrated movie in what is a slept-on franchise generally. This is blockbuster filmmaking at its finest. It’s well written. Well acted. It has some genuinely iconic moments (Caesar yelling ‘No!’ will forever be imprinted in my brain) – a fantastic movie and still the best of the reboots.