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Tripwire Looks Back At The Latest Three Planet of The Apes Films
The Road To The Kingdom
With the release of the new summer blockbuster Kingdom of The Planet of the Apes which happened in May, Tripwire asked contributing writer Paul N Neal to cast a critical eye over the three films that have made this new summer event movie possible:
The editor in Chief of Tripwire Joel Meadows provides his own review of the new film here (https://tripwiremagazine.co.uk/headlines/tripwire-reviews-kingdom-of-the-planet-of-the-apes/.)…
The Trilogy
The three films involved are Rise of Planet of the Apes, Dawn of Planet of The Apes and War for Planet of the Apes. Each film will be considered with a few relevant facts and figures. In addition I have tried to pick the best two movie posters for each film and avoid spoilers.
Rise of The Planet of the Apes (2011)
Directed by Rupert Wyatt.
Starring James Franco, Frieda Pinto, John Lithgow and Andy Serkis.
Reported Budget: $93 million
Approximate Global Box Office: $481 million
Reviews: Generally very positive.
Running Time: 1 hour and 45 minutes.
Rise of Planet of the Apes was a bold and risky endeavour for 20th Century Fox. In 2011, they decided to reboot a much-loved franchise that began with the 1968 original movie that starred Charlton Heston. Also, perhaps the less said about the 2001 Tim Burton helmed reboot effort the better. Given the love for the original films and Burton’s hiccup of a film, there may have been scepticism in some circles at the time.
This film intelligently offers a new perspective on genetic manipulation. It cleverly warns of the dangers of playing with DNA in a far more sensible way than 2018’s popular but heavily criticised film Rampage. In this film, the very human suffering of Alzheimer’s disease is sensitively portrayed by veteran actor John Lithgow.
After his acclaimed turns in Sam Raimi’s Spiderman Trilogy and Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours, James Franco convinces as a flawed everyman hero. Quite inevitably, there are some action sequences that are surpassed by this film’s sequels, nonetheless it more than stands the test of time. It is absolutely worth remembering this film helped to spearhead some incredible developments in motion capture technology for film making and acting. For that fact, alone it is worth rewatching.
With audience expectations high, Rise had a comparatively short running time and was rewarded by being popular with audiences and critics alike. It is therefore not entirely surprising that a sequel was soon planned. Enter stage left: Matt Reeves as director extraordinaire.
Dawn of Planet of the Apes (2014)
Directed by Matt Reeves.
Starring Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, and Keri Russell.
Reported Budget: $170 million
Approximate Global Box Office: $710 million
Reviews: Better received than Rise of Planet of the Apes.
Running Time: 2 hours and 10 minutes.
Dawn of Planet of the Apes brought in a new director who was destined for greater things. However, Matt Reeves had a less than groundbreaking CV at the time that may not have initially indicated he was the perfect man for the job. As one of the scriptwriters for the Steven Seagal action movie Under Siege: Dark Territory, some hesitation was understandable. It would likely have been his standout directorial effort on J.J. Abram’s 2008 pet project Cloverfield that convinced Fox. The director more than proved the studio’s faith in him.
Not only was Dawn a huge revelation in relation to ticket sales, it also proved the director’s credentials. This film also cemented the idea that motion capture acting is worthy of awards and indeed Oscar nominations.
The inclusion of Gary Oldman as part of the cast was a masterstroke and proved that the studio took the series seriously. Dawn has a truly ominous feeling that humanity itself is near extinction.
The film is character driven with the impending spectre of war just around the corner. The action sequences surpass Rise of The Planet of the Apes by some measure, yet the extended running time leaves the film with some glaring pacing issues and unresolved plot holes. Fortunately, the film was a huge success, and these issues were addressed in the film that followed.
War For The Planet Of The Apes
Directed by Matt Reeves.
Starring Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson and Steve Zahn.
Reported Budget: $151 million
Approximate Global Box Office: $490 million
Reviews: Arguably the best reviewed film of the trilogy.
Running Time: 2 hours and 20 minutes.
“WOW” is the only real response to this film. There are very few films that conclude a trilogy that legitimately impress audiences. While it may have been less financially successful than Dawn, it is a far superior film as a whole despite a longer running time. It suffered from being in a marketplace of many sequels such as the latest Pirates of the Caribbean and Transformer films.
This is Matt Reeves’ directorial masterpiece before he headed off to help Warner Brothers reinvigorate a certain superhero franchise in 2022 with The Batman. He does a great job here. This has the longest running time of the three films, but the pacing issues are gone. His masterstroke is in casting Woody Harrelson as The Colonel.
Harrelson quietly lingers over the film as a looming figure of doom yet when his character strikes, it is with force and brutality. Andy Serkis astonishes again as the tragically destined Caesar and Toby Kebbel as Koba is a powerful unwitting antagonist that is there to stir the pot and indeed the plot. It may not feel quite as relentless or visceral as some of the films that it tries to emulate, this is not Platoon with Apes (it is not an Oliver Stone film) but for a family film it certainly has its moments.
With no spoilers: If the ending of this movie cannot elicit a small tear in you, then nothing will.
CONCLUSION
With the law of diminishing returns on many film franchises it was always going to be interesting to see how successful Kingdom of Planet of The Apes performed at the 2024 box office. The film hasn’t faced stiff competition with a release date of May 10th of this year. Screenings in the IMAX format may help its fortunes. It is worth remembering that the release date was brought forward from May 24th to avoid competition with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga on Memorial Day in the United States so it only had two weeks to remain the first choice in the eyes of many moviegoers. Here are some of the statistics and numbers that Tripwire are able to obtain at the time of publication: international box office as of time of writing courtesy of Box Office Mojo: $343m which is very respectable. We know now that Furiosa has had a seemingly disappointing box office performance of $120m although this is very similar to the other instalments except for Fury Road. Significantly it will be the first film in the franchise’s new history not to openly feature the talents of Andy Serkis (although he has worked behind the scenes as a consultant this time around) and with a running time of nearly two and a half hours will it be enough to satisfy fans for their ape related fun? Tripwire suggests avoiding the large servings of soft drinks at the cinema but actually it seems likely there will be a follow-up to this film.
Directed by Wes Ball.
Starring Owen Teague, Freya Allan, and Willian H Macy.
Reported Budget: $125 million (Forbes magazine as a source.)
Approximate Global Box Office: $343 million.
Reviews: https://tripwiremagazine.co.uk/headlines/tripwire-reviews-kingdom-of-the-planet-of-the-apes/
Running Time: 2 hours and 25 minutes.
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