NO ONE CAN STOP THE REIGN.

300 years after the events of War for the Planet of the Apes (2017), a chimpanzee, Noa, is trying to find his kidnapped clan when he meets a human scavenger (Freya Allan).

Director Wes Ball’s attempt to make ”Apocalypto with apes” envisions a world where humans have gone feral and lost their language while apes are thriving in various clans – obviously, there will still be rivalry and betrayals. It’s an intelligent, exciting and visually dazzling way to continue the franchise.

We’ve been down this road before, but it’s nevertheless fresh enough, with engaging new characters and a music score that reconnects with Jerry Goldsmith.

2024-U.S. 145 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by Wes Ball. Screenplay: Josh Friedman. Music: John Paesano. Cast: Owen Teague (Noa), Freya Allan (Mae), Kevin Durand (Proximus Caesar), Peter Macon, Lydia Peckham, Travis Jeffery, William H. Macy. 

Last word: “We thought it was a cool idea. A cool flip to how the last trilogy started. It started in the human world, you know, and you see this human story. And then the apes’ story came into it to take over. And I thought that would be cool here, to start with the ape world and see how a human comes into it with all the ideas and prejudices of what we think the franchise [is] , and what we think she is, and watch this kind of little puzzle, this little mystery kind of unravel.” (Ball, MovieWeb)