4K ULTRA HD REVIEW / HDR SCREENSHOTS
Noa (Owen Teague) searches for his mother and eagle clan and encounters the peaceful Raka (Peter Macon), the last member of the ‘Order of Caesar.’
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“KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES”
4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray; 2024; PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence/action; Digital copy via Amazon Video (4K), Apple TV (4K), Fandango Home (4K), Movies Anywhere (4K), YouTube (4K)
Best extra: An old-school split screen commentary
DIRECTOR WES BALL had no intention of making a sequel of the critically acclaimed “Planet of the Apes” that introduced audiences to Caesar, the leader of the apes, from directors Rupert Wyatt (“Rise of the Planet of Apes”) and Matt Reeves (“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” & “War for the Planet of the Apes”).
“I wasn’t interested in making a part four, I thought that would be death,” Ball says during a recent Q&A on “The Director’s Cut” podcast hosted by friend and director Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”). “We had to get some distance from it [the trilogy], but we didn’t want to abandon the storyline of Caesar.”
Ball grew up in the 1980s when the original “The Planet of the Apes” (1968) starring Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall was one of his favorite video re-watches. “At the time, it was the most cutting-edge makeup effects, and now, it’s the most cutting-edge visual effects ever done,” Ball says during the new featurette “Inside the Forbidden Zone.” Peter Jackson’s Weta FX house, based in New Zealand, handled the visual effects again. Weta received three Oscar nods for the previous Ape films, plus they also handled the effects for Ball’s underrated “Maze Runner” Trilogy.
(1) A flashback scene from the death of Caesar. (2&3) Young ape friends, left and center, Soona (Lydia Peckham), center and right, Noa (Owen Teague), son of eagle clan leader Koro, and Anaya (Travis Jeffery) retrieve eagle eggs for a coming-of-age ceremony to raise the eaglets. (4) Anaya discovers a piece of clothing from a human.
The director envisioned a world several hundred years after Caesar’s reign. The apes are in complete control, and the humans are mere scavengers. The peace-loving eagle clan lives near overgrown, abandoned skyscrapers where eagles now nest. Young apes Noa (Owen Teague), son of eagle clan leader Koro (Neil Sandilands), and his friends Anaya (Travis Jeffery) and Soona (Lydia Peckham) retrieve eagle eggs for a coming-of-age ceremony and plan to raise the eaglets as domestic pets. But the clan is attacked by a masked army of apes led by Sylva (Eka Darville), a commander for slave-driver bonobo Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand). They had been searching for a young human woman, Mae/Nova (Freya Allen), and decided to burn the eagle clan village and take the survivors hostage to an oceanfront prison.
Noa embarks in on a journey to find his mother and the clan, but soon encounters the peaceful Raka (Peter Macon), a hermit orangutan, the last member of the ‘Order of Caesar.’ Mae soon joins the duo.
“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” received respectable reviews when it premiered in May 2024 hitting 64 percent with top critics on Rotten Tomatoes. The three other “Ape” films received much higher marks from critics: 83% (Rise), 90% (Dawn) and 91% (War). The lower score more likely added to its lesser box office numbers, a worldwide gross of $390 million, and the added post-pandemic theatrical downturn. “Dawn of the Planet” (2014) was the most successful, topping $710 million.
The Eagle Clan Village
(1-3) Noa arrives at his village and talks with his mother Dar (Sara Wiseman) and his father, eagle clan leader Koro (Neil Sandilands). (4) One of the clan’s eagles. (5-7) Masked army leader Sylva (Eka Darville) searches for a human woman, heads to the eagle clan village, and burns it to the ground. Noa can’t believe the destruction.
EXTRAS
The first-rate split-screen feature “Inside the Lens: The Raw Cut,” which hasn’t been used on physical discs in a number of years, is an exclusive on the bonus Blu-ray. The raw performance capture footage with the actors and storyboard images are perfectly synched with the final theatrical cut and all its stunning visual effects. It should garner another Academy Award nomination for the folks at Weta.
Director Ball, editor Dan Zimmerman, and visual effects supervisor Erik Winquist provide a running commentary during the “Raw Cut.” It highlights scenes shot on the official first day of shooting with the actors. It was captured in a forest in New South Wales, Australia, and an old railroad tunnel with six inches of mud and a crew of 50 behind the camera.
The 25-minute “Inside the Forbidden Zone” includes behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with Ball, the cast and crew. Ball and screenwriter Josh Friedman determined Caesar’s cave wall anthem from “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” would remain prevalent. “Ape not kill ape. Apes together strong. Knowledge is power.” But this time they’re treating knowledge as a virus. “You can catch it; you can spread it. It can be both good and bad and that’s what led us on this path,” Ball explains. Also, the great Andy Serkis (“The Lord of the Rings Trilogy,” as Gollum), who played Caesar in the previous films, is a special consultant this time. And, Ball provides 14 Deleted/Extended Scenes with an optional commentary.
The split screen “Inside the Lens: The Raw Cut”
VIDEO
On the IMDb webpage for “Kingdom” it states it was mastered in TRUE 4K from start to finish, but to be honest the onscreen results beg to differ. The heavy FX production imagery (2.39:1 aspect ratio) from cinematographer Gyula Pados (“Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” “Maze Runner: The Death Cure”) was captured on ARRIRAW and Blackmagic RAW 4.5K digital cameras, with a nice wash of post-production film grain.
The live-action moments, which are few and far between and with only human characters, has that 4K mastering look, with added clarity and sharpness.
But, when the scene is dominated by the life-like computer-generated apes, with their wonderfully rendered fur, skin, and eyes, the FX shots look soft. Maybe that was intentional, but it’s not in the same 4K league as James Cameron’s FX imagery from “Avatar: The Way of Water.”
I first noticed the lesser clarity while viewing the theatrical trailer on a large multiplex screen earlier this year, and compared it to the other trailers with TRUE 4K footage.
Everything on the 4K disc was encoded onto a 66 GB disc, which should be a no-no – especially when the runtime nearly hits 2 ½ hours. The average bitrate runs in the upper 30 Mbps, and varies from 25 Mbps to 65 Mbps, which is disappointing.
As expected, the 4K disc doesn’t include Dolby Vision grading, which is standard from Disney/20th Century unless the director demands the upgrade. Still the HDR10 toning and earthy color spectrum are excellent from the clouds and super bright highlights to deep blacks during many of the nighttime and low light sequences.
AUDIO
Like most Disney 4K discs, the Dolby Atmos track was on the low side, so you’ll have to punch up the volume on an A/V receiver to get that full theatrical experience. I had to increase the volume level by 4db on my Denon receiver.
Another dissatisfaction, sound effects pushed to your height speakers less than 20 times for the birds and environmental sounds. There is a deep bass response when the apes bang a supersized gong, and from an explosion at the prison.
On a positive note, the score from composer John Paesano (“Maze Runner” Trilogy) is nicely positioned within the seven lower speakers, where he borrows a couple of bars from Jerry Goldsmith’s original “Planet” Oscar-nominated score.
“Kingdom” is the first of an all-new trilogy, and we can only hope the second installment has a more pleasing 4K experience for its visuals and Dolby Atmos soundtrack.
— Bill Kelley III, High-Def Watch producer
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