Tag: Kevin Durand

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Review: Franchise. Together. Strong.

The Planet of the Apes franchise has been an icon of cinema for decades. 
This is, in my opinion, most encapsulated by the success of the recent Caesar trilogy of Rise, Dawn, and War, which is one of my favorite trilogies of all time.
Despite this, I was a bit concerned when I heard we were getting a follow up to this trilogy with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
It felt like the story had been told to completion, and any follow up would be an obvious cash-grab.
Well, after having seen Kingdom, I can gladly eat my words because it is more than a worthy follow up to the iconic trilogy. 

The Planet of Apes franchise is still going strong.

Directed by Wes Ball, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes follows Noa (Owen Teague), a young ape whose clan trains eagles, centuries after the death of Caeser.
Noa sets out of a journey to rescue his clan after they are violently taken away by the forces of Proximus Caeser (Kevin Durand), an ape ruler who has warped Caeser’s words to suit his own ends.
Along the way, Noa picks up two companions, an orangutan named Raka (Peter Macon), the last of an order who stay true to Caeser’s teachings, and Nova (Freya Allan), a human woman who is much smarter than the feral humans now inhabiting the world. 

These unlikely allies travel together to rescue Noa’s clan.

With how great the characters in the Caser trilogy were, I knew it would be difficult for Kingdom to match them, but the movie does an excellent job of setting these characters up for future films.
Noa is a relatable protagonist, starting off naive about the world but slowly growing both in confidence and as a leader. 

Teague does an excellent job as the young ape, with the motion capture also being stunning.

Raka provides some good humor and also has great use delivering world-building.
Mae seems to be a bit of a divisive character, given her role in the film, but I personally found her moral ambiguity to be highly engaging, and I especially look forward to seeing how her connection with Noa will evolve.
As for the villain, Proximus Caesar, he makes for a great showcase of one of the film’s main themes, this being the corruption of legacy, as powerful tyrants warp words to suit their own ends.

Durand plays the charismatic, power-hungry ape brilliantly.

These characters are all well done, not just in their writing and in the acting, but also in the visuals for them.
The Caesar trilogy had some of the best motion capture put to film and obviously Kingdom is no different.
There was not a single moment in the movie when I thought the apes were not really on screen.
It is not just the apes, though, because the CGI for the post-apocalyptic world they inhabit is also a feast for the eyes. 

You could probably pause any landscape shot in the movie and be met with a sight like this.

As for our ears, the soundtrack is also solid, helping to deliver the impact of various moments.
All in all, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is another fantastic entry in the series.
While I personally prefer the trilogy films more, I feel like my perception of Kingdom could become even better if the sequels continue in quality.
There are certainly a lot of questions I have that I am looking forward to seeing answered in the next film.
Apes. Together. Strong.   

Abigail Review: A Bloody Fun Movie Spoiled by the Trailer.

I hate it when trailers spoil a film’s big twist.
There have been times when I have sworn off seeing a movie in theaters because the spoilers ruined the surprise for me.
Abigail was one such film.
After watching the first trailer, I had no interest in it.
Not because I thought what I saw was bad, but because it felt like I had seen most of the movie just from the trailer.
What ultimately changed my mind about seeing Abigail in theaters was that a lot of reviewers I trusted said it was fun.
That, and it had been months since I watched the trailer and I had forgotten everything it revealed, except for the big twist.
Having now seen the film, I am so glad that I changed my mind.
Abigail is a twisted, gory and, above all else, fun movie. 

Abigail is a blast to watch, even if it would have been a better experience if I had never seen a trailer.

Directed by Radio Silence, the film follows six criminals played by Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kevin Durand, Kathryn Newton, Will Catlett, and Angus Cloud.
Cloud tragically passed away in 2023, so this will be his final film role.
These criminals are hired to kidnap a little girl, the titular Abigail, played by Alisha Weir, and hold her in a labyrinth-like mansion for 24 hours until her rich father pays the ransom.
However, this seemingly perfect crime quickly goes off the rails as disturbing events unfold, and the criminals quickly begin to suspect this kidnapping may have actually been a trap.
Now, I will be talking about the big surprise the trailer spoiled.
If you have somehow not seen the trailers yet, then I would highly suggest stopping right here and returning once you have seen the movie.
Trust me, Abigail’s twist is better left unspoiled.
If you have continued reading, I will assume you already know the twist or have seen the film.
So, Abigail’s a vampire. 

Surprise!

What made the trailer revealing this so frustrating is that the movie clearly intends this to be a surprise.
The first half-hour to forty-five minutes of the movie is spent building up the mystery of what’s going on until Abigail’s vampiric nature is revealed.
If the trailer had kept this a secret, it would have made this part of the movie much more satisfying.
This is not to say I did not enjoy this first section, though, because the writers do an excellent job of introducing us to the criminals and making them entertaining.
These are people who kidnapped what they thought to be a normal little girl, so I was definitely wanting Abigail to kill them at the beginning.
That being said, there are sympathetic members among their number, such as Melissa Barerra’s Joey, seemingly the only one of the criminals with a moral compass, who proves herself to be a vital strategist once Abigail’s true nature is revealed. 

Barerra does an excellent job as Joey. It’s good to see her in more films since her unfortunate firing from the Scream franchise.

Then there is Dan Stevens’ Frank, who is delightfully unlikeable throughout, with Stevens delivering a very different performance from the one he gave in Godzilla x Kong.
The final criminal I want to mention is Kevin Durand’s Peter, who got the most laughs in the film as the dumb muscle of the group.
But I saved the best performance for last, and that title undoubtedly goes to Alisha Weir as Abigail.
She had to pull off playing both a frightened girl in the first half, and a sadistic vampire playing with her food in the second, and she nails both roles.
Hell, there were times when both those styles of acting merged and I could not tell if Abigail was being genuine in her interactions with the other characters or not, which made her even creepier. 

Alisha Weir’s performance as Abigail is so good that it makes me look forward to seeing what she will do in the future.

Speaking of creep-factor there is a lot of it in this movie, with plenty of disturbing scenes.
There is also a lot of great humor as well, like one particular gag about the characters gathering things they think will kill a vampire.
And then there is the ending, which I found surprisingly touching for a movie about a murderous vampire child luring her victims in by having them literally kidnap her.
Probably the only thing I did not like about this movie, apart from the trailer spoiling the twist, is that Dan Stevens’ character makes an odd decision to do something in the third act of the movie.
It’s not that I found this choice to be unbelievable for the character, it just felt like there needed to be a few extra steps for him to reach such a conclusion.

Frank’s choice could have been done a little better.

Otherwise, this movie was a blast.
It’s scary, it’s hilarious and, above all else, it’s a bloody good time.
Abigail is probably my second favorite film of 2024 behind Dune: Part Two.
I can easily imagine myself rewatching it in the future.
If you have not watched Abigail yet, be sure to check out.
And if, like me, you got spoiled by the trailers and are now reluctant to see it, I would still urge you to give the film the chance.
I did, had a lot of fun, and now have zero regrets about it.