'Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes' review: Simians rule again

Trust me, you don't want to leave Noa hanging with his fist-bump. — Photos: 20th Century Fox Malaysia

Since Charlton Heston first gazed upon the remnants of the Statue of Liberty emerging from a sandy beach in horror, 56 years ago, the Planet Of The Apes movies have been extremely popular with moviegoing audiences. The appeal of these earnest, big-budget spectacle movies is the opportunity to explore complex characters, power dynamics and wrestle with social issues within the franchise’s allegorical representation of our world. They’re not escapism, but reflection.

The best Apes movies offer us insight into ourselves and the world that we’ve created, and so does the latest installment, Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes, the 10th Apes film, which manages to encompass everything we love about these movies into one sprawling story.