‘Planet of the Apes – The Reign’ is a pop and intelligent blockbuster

“Reign of the Planet of the Apes” has a clever starting point. Instead of continuing the Caesar trilogy, completed by director Matt Reeves in “The Confrontation” (2014) and “The War” (2017), the new film once again resets the clock and, without ignoring its legacy, offers a fresh start that is equally exciting and challenging.

The new film moves forward a few centuries after Caesar’s death in “The War”, which marked the end of man as the dominant species on the planet. In this indeterminate future, monkeys live in tribal societies spread across the globe, with the remnants of human civilization – highways, buildings, public buildings – reclaimed by nature. The stone jungle finally became real.

In this scenario lives Noa (Owen Teague), a young chimpanzee, son of the regent of the eagle tribe. Taking refuge in the treetops, they are strict in their rules and do not venture outside their territory. Humans, those left on Earth, are savages and the recommendation is to stay away from them. Not that Noa is very fond of rules, but respect for her peers speaks louder.

This idyll is broken when Noa’s home is attacked by ferocious monkeys, from another tribe, who devastate the community in search of slaves and the clue to a fugitive human. As the only apparent survivor, Noa sets out on a rescue journey, gaining as companions the orangutan Raka (Peter Macon), versed in the stories of the world before Caesar, and the human, named by them Nova (Freya Allan), who little by little reveals that he has his own plans.

The trio’s destination is the domains of Proximus (Kevin Durand), who built his reign by subverting the ideals of Caesar, now a mythical figure, and repeating with a heavy hand and brutal methods the mistakes that historically made humans lose their place in the animal hierarchy. . His main objective is to open a bunker that would supposedly give him the tools to extend his domain. Nova, who turns out to be more evolved than the humans hunted by the apes, is the key to this plan.