Summary
The Apes series is the closest movies have ever come to magic. People point to the groundbreaking realism of theAvatarmovies, and those are visual spectaculars to be sure, but they’re also highly expensive. They make it back by becoming the highest grossing movies of all time, but Apes spin miracles on the cheap. And after watching Kingdom, I’m finally all in onZelda.
The latter two movies in the ‘10s Apes trilogy had a lot ofThe Last of Usabout them. Director Matt Reeves never explicitly mentioned this as inspiration - he lists everything from The Ten Commandments toStar Wars- but the decaying buildings strangled by overgrowth in grey American metropolises where humans huddle in fear and turn violent in the face of a disease they don’t understand begs obvious comparisons to Joel and Ellie’s epic.
Kingdom Of The Planets Of The Apes Adds Interesting New Lore
In Kingdom, things have changed. It’s set ‘many generations’ later, thought to be around 300 years, as humans and the memory of their time has faded - the apes in the movie even refer to them as Echoes. The overgrowth has become exaggerated, no longer part of the human buildings but fully consuming them, while relics of the past take on a new meaning, interpreted by fresh eyes. It also opens with a blistering climbing sequence shot with the kinetic flow of Andrew Garfield’sSpider-Man, and it all feels right out ofHorizon.
But unlike Reeves, Kingdom’s director Wes Ball has spoken many times about his love for video games, andnames Horizon amongst his favourites. Whereas Reeves and Druckmann may just have similar aesthetic visions for a slow burning apocalypse, two and two may indeed make four this time. But this affection for video games goes beyond influences in Kingdom - Ball is slated to direct the upcoming Zelda movie.
I haven’t thought much about Zelda on the silver screen. I like the older games I’ve played but never had the obsession many developed, and was on the outside of the hype forBreath of the WildandTears of the Kingdom. My hopes that the Zelda movie is great have less to do with my childhood dreams coming true and far more witht the fact I just like movies. Ergo, I want another great one in the world.
The Zelda Movie Can’t Be Like The Mario Movie
Zelda has interesting characters and powerful imagery, but with so many different games telling similar stories, each giving narrative varying levels of importance, the movie is an interesting challenge. It can’t be likeThe Super Mario Bros. Movie, skirting by on silliness, bright colours, and references. I enjoyedMario, but it was just An Animated Movie with Mario stuff. You swap out a few key details and it could have been any story - Mario doesn’t have much of a narrative and operates on a classic fairytale arc, so the fun comes from Mario being a goofball.
Zelda presents a different challenge, one of restraint and complex mythology - things Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes manoeuvres well. Kingdom introduces Eagle Clan and a world beyond Caesar, quickly establishing the stakes and traditions before taking us on Noa’s specific and personal journey of growth and discovery. The Maze Runner movies, Ball’s previous work, dabbled in similar ideas but never reached these heights. Like Noa scaling the mountains with a makeshift spear, Ball reaches a new peak here - one where he can see Zelda twinkling in the distance.
Though the characters do speak in the Apes movies, dialogue is often deliberately limited, with visuals driving the narrative home. This is a key facet of Zelda too. For all the complex lore of Apes (it’s difficult to point out who the good guys are in Dawn), it is at heart a simple tale of families clustered together to survive. Kingdom takes away the militarism and guerrilla existence of Caesar’s time to put greater emphasis on character relationships, and in doing so underlines Ball’s ability to display tenderness on screen alongside action sequences.
This will be key for Zelda too - it is a simple tale at its core, of a knight protecting a princess, but the stories the series weaves go beyond this basic trope into more complex inner struggles, and Ball will be tasked with bringing those out again. Though he has spoken about his love of specific games,he declined to state which Zelda game was his favourite, so Kingdom might be our best clue as to what his Zelda movie will look like.
The Apes movies will be some of the most enduring blockbusters of our time, and each one of them cost less to make than Argylle. Kingdom is a fine entry into a series that keeps finding new approaches to its compelling central story and continues to make us root for apes over humanity. Noa is a worthy successor to Caesar at the heart of the movie, and with it, Ball has proved he is worthy of Zelda.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
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The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a direct sequel to the Nintendo Switch hit Breath of the Wild. In it, Link must team up with Princess Zelda to rid Hyrule of another threat to its existence.
