Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)
Planet of the Apes is a franchise that was revolutionary in 1968. Coming right at the time of 2001: A Space Odyssey, these films ushered in new ideas for science fiction and the world in the future as we’ve never seen before. In the years since, there have been 4 sequels to the original, a single remake in 2001, and then a new series beginning in 2011. The newest series has proven to be not only critically but commercially successful, giving new life to the franchise at large and renewing interest in the lore of Planet of the Apes. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes became a no-brainer hit for Disney this spring, and now it’s coming home on 4K UHD Blu-ray! Read more about the 10th installment to the Planet of the Apes franchise and don’t forget, the cover art at the end is your link to order yourself a copy of the film!
Film: 
Set several generations in the future following Caesar’s reign, apes are living harmoniously as the dominant species — and humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.
After a prologue discussing how the world has evolved since the reign of Caesar, we see apes exploring a landscape. They are Noa, Soona and Anaya. They are friends and their clan of apes raise eagles. It is an unspoken agreement between the species that these apes can take one egg as their own. They bond with the egg before it hatches, and they are in tune forever after that. Before the bonding can begin, a new clan, led by Proximus Caesar, comes to overtake Noa’s clan and push an alternate version of Caesar’s ways. They kill Noa’s father and Noa and his friends must escape while the rest of the clan is kidnapped and find out what they must do to stop the killings and find ways to unite the clans for good.
This is not before they meet Mae, a human woman who joins them as they look for clues and answers. She may or may not be an ally. On the Proximus clan side, we have Trevathan, who acts as an advisor to them. There is another human, Korina, who is hoping for the satellites she guards to be able to find power and a signal. Each human has their own motivations. As Noa and his friends walk the earth, they also meet Raka, an orangutan who offers food, shelter and allyship.
There are many set pieces dedicated to world building, with moments of action bursting on screen to carry us through the paces. The story contains some complexities that reviewing them might spoil the film for those who haven’t seen it, and so I won’t share them here. I have personally enjoyed all of the 2011 franchise films. Each film builds upon the last to deliver incredibly visual, enthralling and compelling films. The installments all have an intelligence to go along with the pure popcorn entertainment, with quiet moments with emotion playing against intense, edge of your seat action. By the time the films end, you’re already anticipating the next installment. The same can be said for this particular film. We have a new hero in Noa, who matures over the course of the films 2 hours and 25 minutes. We feel for his losses and his victories and we see him become battle hardened, but with the purity of a leader wanting unity and justice for everyone.
Going into this film I knew that I would enjoy it, and the consistency of these films means for me that they continue to be interesting, entertaining and very well made. Wes Ball takes his installment and runs with it, while actors in motion capture and as their human selves deliver fantastic emotional performances that are also physically arresting. The effects by Weta Digital among others are some of the most seamless I’ve seen in recent films, and the overall aesthetic of the film is so very satisfying. Where the original series at times failed to reach the promise of the initial film, the new series has been not only consistent, but built upon each previous film to create a rich world of characters, apes that are strong and tough, menacing and evil, curious and explorative. I only hope the films continue this way, with freshness and originality.
Video:
Encoding: HEVC / H.265
Resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Layers: BD-66
HDR: HDR10
Clarity/Detail: Based on Disney’s protocol for plopping films on 66GB 4K Blu-rays, I was worried I would be seeing a compressed mess on this disc. Thankfully, in the hands of Sony now, the disc does not suffer this fate! Textured and sharp, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes looks incredible. I saw no signs of anomaly from the lesser storage of the disc and saw plenty of high bitrate and room to spread the data out! Nothing looks out of place in the transfer and the effects hold up great on the smaller screen too!
Depth: Focus keeps things going throughout the film. The digital characters have a great look to them, almost lifelike a lot of the time, with wonderful depth of field keeping things looking front and center in foregrounds and backgrounds.
Black Levels: Nighttime and darkness do not give way to crush, and it’s a great thing to see everything in the dark not falling victim to compression either.
Color Reproduction: HDR10 works hard to give you a wide color spectrum throughout the film. Fiery tones and lush greens coexist with the deep blacks, browns and ocean blues.
Flesh Tones: Human characters look excellent, with some dirt and dinge to show you their blight in the Apes’ world.
Noise/Artifacts: None.
Audio:
Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos and 2.0 Dolby Digital Descriptive Audio, Spanish 7.1 Dolby Digital Plus, French 5.1 Dolby Digital Language Tracks
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish and French Subtitles
Dynamics: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes comes home with a Dolby Atmos track that stands with some of the best of them! The mix contains solid sound effects, wide staging and deep bass!
Height: Outdoor echoes, indoor echoes, fire and fight action surround you from above.
Low-Frequency Extension: Footfalls, fight sequences, raging rivers, collapsing structures and so much more give the subwoofer a workout! There is no loss of depth in the bass department.
Surround Sound Presentation: Echoes, natural ambience and the lower parts of what we heard in the height speakers present themselves here.
Dialogue Reproduction: Clean and clear.
Extras:
Extras for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes are very interesting! Instead of a bundled Blu-ray we get a “raw cut” of the film, along with deleted scenes and director commentary for the “raw cut” and the deleted scenes. A making of feature also is along for the bonuses, and while short-ish on time, it is not lost for good information!
Inside The Lens: The Raw Cut – 2 hr. 25 min. – This cut of the film features concept art, pre-visual effects work and more. This cut puts you right into the filmmaking process and is a very cool option for those curious about how much work goes into creating a film like this!
Bonus Features*
Documentary
- Inside the Forbidden Zone: Making Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes: Join director Wes Ball, cast and crew as they expand the Planet of the Apes legacy for a new generation. Travel to the outdoor production in Australia, train at Ape School, and discover the practical and motion capture techniques in building a breathtaking Kingdom.
- 14 Deleted/Extended Sceneswith optional audio commentary by director Wes Ball
Summary:
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes continues the newest series of Planet of the Apes films with a lot of heart for such a technical film. We are missing Caesar but given a wonderful replacement in Noa, and his adventure stands up next to Caesars, with the ending of the film leaving things open for a new installment to keep things going. Here’s hoping! Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes gets a strong recommendation from me, and the 4K disc is obviously the way to go for all you collectors out there!
