'Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes' Review: What The Sci-fi Film Gets Right

Director Wes Ball's new "Planet of the Apes" film seems to have a whole lot to say about the white damsel in distress. 20th Century Studios It’s been seven years since director Matt Reeves delivered the last installment in the decades-spanning, ever-political “Planet of the Apes” franchise. It couldn’t have come at a better time as we navigate yet another “very important election year.” Director Wes Ball’s thrilling new movie, “The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” is set between 2300 and 2400, when anthropomorphic apes have taken over the world from the formerly dominant humans who have intellectually and physically ebbed almost to the point of extinction. It isn’t until about midway through “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” when Mae’s veneer should come into question. 20th Century Studios But it’s less mindful about how or why characters like Raka and Caesar and the rest of the apes, who the film insists are quite shrewd, wouldn’t be more discerning about Mae.