Evan Maggit’s review published on Letterboxd:
I’m completely blown away by how engaged and excited I was throughout this masterful piece of cinema. It’s a passionate throwback to the original 1968 film while having the cinematic nuance of the modern Caesar trilogy, and on top of that, it just looks so damn beautiful.
I just want to talk about director, Wes Ball for a little bit. I’d definitely say that this film is easily the best film in his career. Not to knock the Maze Runner trilogy, but it varied in quality, yet its world building was superb. However, this film felt way more like his impressive short, Ruin, and his demo reel from his canceled Mouse Guard film, in terms of visuals, pacing and atmosphere. Even though it’s a start of a “new trilogy”, I actually felt like the world was super well-developed, and I genuinely remember all of the characters, since a lot of the immersion was from moments of their facial reactions, vast landscapes, and seeing all of the different factions. Ball as a filmmaker prioritizes the audience first and foremost, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Owen Teague, who I’ve been a fan of since I’ve seen his performances in I See You and The Stand, brings it home with a powerful and vulnerable performance as Noa. I hope he’s in more movies after this, because he’s such a cool guy. Kevin Durand makes a menacing impact as Proximus Caesar, and Peter Macon was a definite standout as Raka. Freya Allen gave a fantastic performance as Mae, and I’m very excited to see where her and Noa are going to journey into after seeing that ending. The cinematography was perfection, and I love the fact that it uses anamorphic lenses to dirty up the image, making it look more realistic. Also, John Paesano made a pretty great musical score since it had noticable hints to both Goldsmith and Giacchino’s themes.
The writing and the story were super strong, because as a whole, it’s a fascinating take of twisted religion and going against a mythological order. I loved that Caesar as a character became an overlooming presence, like Ape Jesus or something, it added so much more weight to each moral discussion. The sound design was fantastic, the pacing was and the production design were solid, and the editing was great. But lastly, I will say this here and now, but I think this is the best visual effects in movies to date. The apes just looked real, period. The environments look incredible, and the facial expressions and the detail of the hair were jaw-dropping. Truly an amazing showcase of what tech can do to make dream worlds come to life.
Overall, I know I say it a lot now, and I’ll probably say it for another movie that’ll come out this year, but this is my new favorite film of the year right now. Wes Ball is operating on the level of James Cameron, and I couldn’t be happier with how awesome of an experience I had watching this.
Also, I think Wes Ball will nail that live-action Zelda movie. He’s a hardcore fan, and my body is so ready for what he has to offer.
