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Sono yo wa wasurenai (1962)
Not the most consistent of films, but some of it works very well.
Hiroshima Heartache is a bit scattershot in a way that I don't think was intended. It follows a journalist covering the anniversary of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima, and his difficulties with interviewing people who survived the event. It feels like he drifts around a lot until he gets to know a young woman who was personally impacted by the bomb, carrying scars both emotional and physical from the event.
It's that relationship which makes for Hiroshima Heartache's most interesting and moving scenes, but it does feel like the love story is a bit rushed and also, I got the sense the whole movie should've focused on this relationship more; not just the final 30 to 40 minutes.
It adds up to a flawed and somewhat messy post-war drama, but because of the stuff that does work, I think it's still a decent film.
2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
Kinda slaps
2 Fast 2 Furious boldly asks the question "What if 2000's The Fast and the Furious was good?", and then confidently follows up on that by being The Fast and the Furious, but good.
I was not a fan of that original movie when I saw it for the first time a couple of weeks ago, but this one delivered. It's made me surprised to find that it tends to get called one of the worst in the series. Honestly, if more of them are like this, I could see myself growing attached to the whole stupid franchise as a whole.
There are still glaring problems throughout, much of it's corny and overblown, and though the pacing's generally good, a few scenes feel a bit repetitive. Still, everyone seems to be taking this film a little less seriously, not to the point of self-parody, but I appreciated this movie going a little more over-the-top and being just generally crazier.
Also, Paul Walker is pretty good here, understanding the assignment and carrying the movie pretty well; also, I think he was better here than he was in the first movie. I didn't like Vin Diesel's performance in the first (he's a charisma vacuum, as far as I'm concerned), so I kind of enjoyed his absence here. I'm hoping that when he returns as a regular, he'll either fit in a little better to what's going on, or everything else will be wild enough that his presence will barely register. That's my Fast and Furious hot-take. So far, I don't like - or want - Diesel in these movies.
The action's more fun here and I think it feels a little less slow and dour compared to the first. There's energy and some big action sequences, and I had fun for the majority of the runtime. This is good fast-food cinema, as opposed to the first, which felt like a Big Mac that had mild but still inevitably detrimental amounts of rat poison sprinkled on top.
Onwards to Tokyo Drift next, I guess (that one I have actually seen before, but some years ago now).
Invincible (2001)
Could've been a contender.
This really could've been great, and I'm a bit disappointed it was merely decent. Werner Herzog's one of my favorite directors, Tim Roth is always great (he has a villainous role here), Udo Kier has a supporting role here (he's a match made in heaven for the Herzog style), and Hans Zimmer even co-composed the score for this film. For what it's worth, that poster also caught my eye, and recalls a memorable image from 1922's Dr. Mabuse the Gambler.
Furthermore, Invincible also has an interesting setting and premise, too, taking place in Berlin during the 1930s and following a Jewish strongman who becomes loved by some and hated by others - namely, the members of the Nazi Party.
There's so much potential here, both with what the movie focuses on and who was involved. And Invincible isn't bad; it's watchable, it's well-presented, and, shock horror, the good actors give good performances. But I couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't as engrossing as it could be, and it felt a bit overlong and sagged in places pacing-wise, too.
Herzog's hit it out of the park more often than most filmmakers, so a slight misfire is forgivable. Even then, Invincible isn't a total misfire, because there's still a bit here to appreciate and get wrapped up in. Lesser Herzog is still good for the most part, I guess, but I really wanted to come away from this singing its praises as an unfairly overlooked film by the great German filmmaker (whose filmography I've now seen about half the titles from, and I feel like I've already worked my way through most of his bonafide classics... but time will tell if that's really the case or not).
The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)
It might be over-hated, but that still doesn't mean it's good.
I'm not familiar with the source material, which might be why I don't find this to be quite the disaster some say it is... but it's still very much not good. I think it starts off okay, and it's kind of easy to see where it could go or how it maybe could work, but it keeps introducing new characters, plot threads, and ideas.
At a point, it all becomes overstuffed and unwieldy, and it's awkward how certain people are forgotten about for a while before stumbling back into the film, and you kind of forget they were even there in the first place. It's just too much in too little time, and some of the lead performances are quite bad.
I also really disliked the ending, and was mixed on the various De Palma-isms that appear throughout the film. Some of his choices worked, and some felt distracting and inappropriate for this kind of film.
I think Bonfire of the Vanities was fairly bad. I don't think it was disastrously bad, and history maybe supports that, given it didn't seem to kill too many careers outright. But it's certainly not good, and oftentimes feels like a waste of the talent involved.
La diagonale du fou (1984)
no.
Hey, I'm sure there's a way to make chess somewhat exciting in a movie, but this approach ain't it.
Dangerous Moves won an Oscar for best foreign film and has an impressive cast, but it was strangely kind of a bore to watch; even enough to feel like it was a bit of a challenge to finish. There's two people who are rivals and they play chess and there are good actors and they are kind of wasted. That's all there is and now I'm sleepy.
I guess there's a level of basic competency on offer in Dangerous Moves, but that's not enough to make it good, or even passable. It's more of a Dangerous Snooze, really.
Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
One of Adam Sandler's very best performances.
If I were to rank Paul Thomas Anderson's movies, I think Punch-Drunk Love would be somewhere around the middle. I love his epics the most, and tend to gravitate towards those films of his that have lots of intersecting characters (Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Licorice Pizza kind of, and even Inherent Vice). Consequently, I think I like his more character-focused films less than most people (The Master, There Will Be Blood, and Phantom Thread... they're all good and fantastically acted, but they've never done as much for me).
Of his "focus on one character" type of movies - for lack of a better term - I think Punch-Drunk Love is my favorite. It has the sort of style and energy of Boogie Nights and Magnolia at points, but is perhaps a little less showy, and does seem to foreshadow where Anderson would go with 2007's There Will Be Blood and 2012's The Master; both also character studies, but certainly drearier, less flashy, and much slower ones.
It's also neat rewatching Punch-Drunk Love in a post-Uncut Gems world and realizing how similar they are. Adam Sandler was born to play anxious, funny, kinda disturbed, and very unlucky characters like this, and I remember this movie completely changing my perception of him as an actor when I first saw it. He's not often in great movies, but when he is, his performances are incredible. Philip Seymour Hoffman is also awesome in this, making every second of screen time count (he's probably only on screen for about five minutes in total).
I like the way it looks and feels, and it's uncomfortable, funny, and odd. I don't know if it all comes together well, and the ending leaves me feeling kind of bewildered, but it's a worthy watch for the tense humor, the great lead performance by Sandler, and the visuals throughout.
Lola rennt (1998)
Adrenaline
This was the first film shown at an odd - but also oddly fitting - double feature tonight: Run Lola Run followed by Punch-Drunk Love. I guess the most obvious connection is that both are very intense and kind of chaotic, and came out within a few years of each other. Both also contain a good deal of running and people talking on phones, though Run Lola Run has more of the former (obviously), and Punch-Drunk Love has more of the latter.
I think Run Lola Run mostly deserves its cult status. It's got a dynamite premise, following one woman desperately having to get a large amount of cash in only a short amount of time, with the same scenario playing out several times with dramatically different results. There are some odd creative choices along the way, like flash-forwards to demonstrate butterfly effect-type situations with background characters (it's not always clear why certain interactions affect their futures in certain ways), and Lola screaming and shattering glass.
I think she also turns into Jesus towards the end or something? The music gets all Peter Gabriel/Last Temptation of Christ-y, she performs a "miracle" at a casino, and then seems to heal someone with her touch alone. They're definitely going for something there, but it makes more sense than the flash-forwards with random people and the screaming, to be honest.
And I guess the film tips you off about it being offbeat and maybe philosophical early on, with a fairly strange opening scene that might contextualize much of the film, or could be there just to get it above 80 minutes in runtime. Anyway, weird bits aside, the central premise is well-executed here, the film's stylish, I loved the use of music, and it's never boring to watch. It's a very good film that, with some tweaking, maybe could've been a great one, but at the end of the day, it also feels a bit silly to complain that something is "merely" very good.
Tsuma wa kokuhaku suru (1961)
A fairly underrated courtroom drama.
It's interesting watching this while Anatomy of a Fall is still fairly fresh in my memory, because the premises are very similar, but both it and A Wife Confesses end up being very different in the end. A Wife Confesses is snappier and shorter, perhaps in a way that makes the courtroom stuff actually feel a little anticlimactic, by the time the final act comes around.
But at the same time, I don't think this courtroom drama is always interested in the courtroom stuff, and that's okay. Outside said courtroom, A Wife Confesses can feel a little melodramatic, but it's pretty tight at 90 minutes long, and the acting is good throughout. I think most of it holds up fairly well, and while it's not my favorite out of the Yasuzô Masumura-directed films I've seen so far, it's definitely not my least favorite either.
Akitsu onsen (1962)
A technically strong but eventually dreary romantic drama.
Yoshishige Yoshida's most celebrated movies tend to be his super dense and hard-to-approach ones, with Akitsu Hot Springs - for at least some of its runtime - making the case that Yoshida was genuinely just as well-suited to making more conventional films.
This starts off strong, and I'd say at least the first hour or so is very good, taking place after the Second World War and revolving around a dramatic romance/affair between two people, and the consequences that come about from it.
But it lost me a little during its second hour, kind of drifting around and repeating itself a bit too much... and not really in the sort of artistic way Yoshida did in full art-house mode; it just feels a bit like the people behind this got lost at a point, and sort of just shuffled along toward an ending of some sort.
It's half a good movie followed by half a pretty meandering movie. Perhaps a little disappointing as a whole, but I was on board with it for a while at least before I kind of felt worn out by the whole thing.
The L-Shaped Room (1962)
Good for its time.
The L-Shaped Room was a bit slow for my liking, but I respect the film in some ways. For its time, this is pretty open about certain things and emotionally honest in a way that's admirable. Very little of it feels melodramatic, and as far as capturing a kind of reality goes, it works. Of course, reality can be boring, but that's what it feels like the intent is, so it's hard to complain too much.
The other thing working in The L-Shaped Room's favor is Leslie Caron's central performance, which might be the best dramatic turn from her I've seen. I associate her more with comedies and musicals, so this film shows her range.
It's overlong and slow-going, but it has those positive things going for it and was surely bold for its time, so for that, it's got to be considered at least pretty good.
Tiptoes (2002)
what in tarnation
There's just something unsettling and off about how Tiptoes feels from front to back. I don't think it was supposed to feel like a fever dream, but it does, with everything feeling messy and just off.
The final half-hour is particularly strange, and I'm guessing is the section of the film that was most impacted by a 2.5-hour cut getting trimmed down to 90 minutes. There are so many fades to black that weren't really used earlier in the film, and some scenes feel like they're missing.
The ending is also amazingly abrupt, and will be the thing I remember about Tiptoes the most (besides Gary Oldman walking around on his knees; there's one glorious shot where you can see the parts of his legs he's not using for a split-second and it's hilarious).
If you're curious about a trainwreck of a movie, there are other bad movies that are technically more boring than Tiptoes. But it's still only partly recommendable, even for those seeking out trash. I imagine the director's cut would be like a 4/10 instead of a 1/10 or a 2/10; perhaps slightly more competent, but at what cost? 60 extra minutes that might well make it feel even more boring for long stretches.
What an oddity. Avoid or watch it, I don't know. I don't care.
Alien vs. Ninja (2010)
Stupid and sometimes fun.
I've never seen an Alien vs. Predator movie, but I can now say I've seen the (probably superior) Alien vs. Ninja.
This still isn't great, but for a movie called Alien vs. Ninja, it could've been much worse. The biggest criticism I have is that it felt a bit like it was trying to be a Ryûhei Kitamura film (what with the crazy blend of genres and goofy action scenes and all), but didn't have the same magic his stuff has. This is no Final Wars, Versus, or Azumi, even if some of its more gonzo moments suggests it kind of wants to scratch the same itch those films do.
The schlock in this film is sometimes charming though, making it better than anything the Asylum farts out. It's one-note as a movie, and all the action/alien scenes do start to feel repetitive, even with the runtime just being 80 minutes.
But it's the sort of movie that made for perfectly mindless weekend viewing, and I had a decent amount of fun with Alien vs. Ninja, flaws and all.
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Masterpiece
This is the fifth or sixth time I've seen Once Upon a Time in America and I'm still overwhelmed. It's such an immense film, and blows me away every time I see it. This is despite knowing almost every scene and remembering many lines of dialogue before characters say it. There's just something to this that makes it all unforgettable.
Everything that could be praised is worth praising, and it would probably make for an uninteresting review to get too in-depth. So, music is obviously perfect. Cinematography: unmatched. Performances: great from everyone, but especially De Niro. He plays gangsters all the time, but Noodles is someone different - colder, more brutal, and more tragic than most De Niro gangsters (tragic in a way where I don't feel sorry for him, I should make that clear, but in the sense that he brings about his own misery so directly). I love the structure, even though those first 15 to 20 minutes are always confounding. And the set design might be the best-ever? I just love the way every interior looks in this. We don't even spend much time in places like the opium den, but the detail and intricacy of that set are astounding.
The only commentary of interest I think I can offer is that it's fascinating watching Once Upon a Time in America post-The Irishman, which is another De Niro gangster epic that's exceedingly long; plus another I love and have seen several times. The Irishman sees an old De Niro playing a younger character, while Once Upon a Time in America sees a younger De Niro playing an older character. Both span decades narratively, have ambitious structures, revolve around friendship/betrayal, explore regret and the unpleasantries of aging after a life of immorality, and also, both have something of a motif surrounding doors, and leaving them open or shut. There's also a great emphasis placed on De Niro's character making a phone call in both.
Anyway, rambling aside, this film is fantastic (and so is The Irishman). It's one of three Sergio Leone films that I think are perfect, and I wish we lived in a world where he ended up making as many films as Scorsese has.
Umi ga kikoeru (1993)
Ocean Waves looks nice, but the story's quite dull.
This seems like a bit of a hidden oddity within the Studio Ghibli canon, and part of me was hoping watching it would feel like unearthing a hidden gem.
I can say this much positively about it: I'm surprised it was a TV movie, because animation-wise, this is of a really high quality for the time period it was made and released during. It looks crisp and visually pleasing for 99% of the runtime, and animation shortcuts are rarely noticeable (you could probably find a few more if you were on the look out for them specifically).
Ocean Waves actually falters most when it comes to the story and the characters, which was surprising, because that's not something you need a movie budget to get right, traditionally. I came in thinking it would be compelling enough narratively but lesser visually, and in the end, Ocean Waves was actually surprisingly good presentation-wise but also disappointingly weak everything else-wise.
At least it's not too long. I don't reject watching it. But, at the same time, I don't think it can be recommended to anyone who's not a Studio Chibli completionist.
Wong ga jin si (1986)
A solid action flick.
Michelle Yeoh is very cool. That could be the review; that's enough to make Royal Warriors worth watching.
It's a bit of an oddity as a film, starting out with a dance number and then becoming surprisingly dark, not to mention jarringly violent. It's that kind of hard-edged martial arts movie where the punches and collisions look genuinely painful, and some of the stunts look remarkably dangerous. There are certain parts that aren't entirely believable (an overuse of sped-up footage at the end, and a mat poorly disguised as pavement early on), but most of the action's done really well.
I think it's a movie that hits the ground running to the point where it runs out of steam a little by the final act. It flounders a bit to get to the final action sequence, but once it gets there, it does work.
Some of the melodramatic elements didn't always work for me either, but the core of what's needed for a Hong Kong action movie to shine is intact here, and so I mostly liked Royal Warriors. Michelle Yeoh is very good, and it's interesting seeing a young Hiroyuki Sanada here too, given both he and Yeoh have seen their popularity reach new heights (at least internationally) during the early 2010s. They're both very good here, too.
The Killer Elite (1975)
Not bad
The Killer Elite might be the rare film that peaks with its opening titles, which sees Sam Peckinpah at his most brazen/sassy:
"This film is a work of fiction. There is no company called Communications Integrity NOR ComTeg and the thought the C. I. A. Might employ such an organization for any purpose is, of course, preposterous."
I liked the cast here, given The Killer Elite features greats like James Caan, Robert Duvall, and Burt Young. Sam Peckinpah made much better and more balanced films than this, but The Killer Elite still packs a mild punch. It never quite takes off or soars, but I thought it was decent. The 1970s was definitely a very different time though- the dudes all look like regular dudes, and the film does things like take its time showing Caan's character's physical recovery early on (it's basically the whole first act).
A very '70s flick, it might well go without saying.
Succession: Lifeboats (2018)
An improvement
The third episode of Succession is an improvement over the second. Like the first (also good) episode of the show, it's still a decent way away from great, but you can feel the drama kicking up a notch. Seeing Kendall and Roman in the workplace for most of the episode is a lot of fun, and this episode is kind of notorious for having two very gross/upsetting scenes in it. I think they're necessary, but they were awkward the first time I watched the show, and somehow worse the second time, even though I knew they were coming.
Logan's "return" at the episode's end is also great. You can feel things tighten when he has that scene near the end, even though he can't talk much and has to choose his words carefully. It's that growing conflict throughout the first season that eventually makes Succession become truly great; the second half of season 1 is awesome, and I'm extra excited to revisit those episodes.
Succession: Sh*t Show at the F**k Factory (2018)
If a show's worst episode is still this good, you know it's doing something right.
The second episode of Succession is one of the rare times in the series where things might feel a little too slow. I remember it being pretty good the first time around, but the second time was a little patience-testing in a way I didn't feel with rewatching the first episode.
All the main characters are confined to a hospital for the whole episode, which might work better if we knew them and the dynamics were a little more vibrant. But there's still a lot of groundwork and side characters to be established here, and it's all just a bit too static and repetitive.
The ending of the episode is great, and there are a handful of funny moments throughout. Logan's presence is missed, but the writing and all the other performances are solid. Not up to the show's soon-to-be-established standard, but as far as a "growing pains" episode early in a show's run goes, this is still pretty excellent, all things considered.
Ride in the Whirlwind (1966)
Competent enough
I'm going to be cursed with always getting this mixed up with The Shooting, given both came out in 1966, shared a couple of stars, and had the same director. The Shooting is one I watched ages ago and thought was just fine, for what it was (a small-scale/low-budget Western). I think I avoided Ride in the Whirlwind for a while because I just assumed I would feel the same way about it as The Shooting.
But even if I did, the worst-case scenario was going to be coming away from the film shrugging a little and thinking "Eh, it could've been much worse, for what it was." And yeah/eh, Ride in the Whirlwind could've been much worse, for what it was.
It's a bit bleh, but looks polished considering it was made on the cheap and made side by side with The Shooting. It might be worth a cautious watch for fans of Jack Nicholson, because he has a fairly prominent role here and was also credited with writing this film, but I did think his performance was quite far below his usual standards. He was okay I guess, just not the usual great. And the film as a whole was also just okay.
Leng xue shi san ying (1978)
A minor classic for the martial arts genre.
This was really strong. It's common to get to a martial arts movie and think "the story was a bit whatever, but the action was great," but I got quite invested in the story here. I think it was well-told and less predictable than expected, with a neat structure and two main characters who mostly wanted the same things (a form of revenge), and formed an uneasy alliance that was sometimes mysterious, and occasionally at risk of being challenged.
The action was all super satisfying, too. Typically great choreography, over-the-top death scenes, and some really inventive weapons that made things interesting, particularly in the final fight.
This might even be one of the better Shaw Brothers movies. Definitely an underrated one, in any event.
Hung kuen dai see (1984)
Surprisingly good
I'm going to be writing about lesser-known martial arts movies for work soon, and though I've seen enough to talk about, I thought it gave me a good excuse to catch up on a few lesser-known ones I've yet to see. I've been pretty happy with the whole run so far, seeing a couple of cool Jackie Chan films, King Hu's The Fate of Lee Khan, and now a couple of Shaw Brothers movies tonight: Human Lantern and then Opium and the Kung Fu Master.
The latter was particularly good. Not perfect, and not quite top-tier Shaw Brothers, but quite good, and I'm glad to say it qualifies as under-appreciated. It has a little bit of an odd tone at first, feeling like a goofy comedy with some occasional martial arts, having more laughs than your average "competing martial arts schools" plotline.
But then opium works its way into the plot, one school wants to corrupt the town of another school by making them all addicts, and the drug is shown to start ruining lives. It doesn't handle addiction with care or in a particularly believable way, but maybe points for effort? It does end up pushing the film into more serious territory, and while that was jarring, I think it was for the best. The action - while good before - started to get even more exciting once the stakes were raised.
And it's always cool to see two well-known Shaw Brothers lead actors - Ti Lung and Chen Kuan-Tai, who were also both in Human Lanterns - face off against each other. I always forget how good of a bad guy the latter made, and when they go head-to-head, things get awesome.
It's a bit of a messy film, and some wild tonal shifts are contained within, but I generally liked what it was going for, mostly liked what the story ended up being, and found the action very entertaining.
Ren pi deng long (1982)
Pretty wild stuff.
Human Lanterns goes for broke and mostly works. It's gonzo stuff, being a cross between a martial arts movie and a murder-mystery about a deranged serial killer, all taking place hundreds of years ago (possibly longer).
I like it when a Shaw Brothers movie does something out of left field. This isn't my favorite example of the studio doing that, but it certainly has its moments - enough of them for this to end up being pretty decent. There's enough here that's fun to make it worth a watch for martial arts fans after something different.
It was let down a little, I felt, by being uneven. It committed to different levels of crazy at different points, and feels all-over-the-place as a result. That sense of chaos can work when it's pushed far enough often enough in a movie like this, but I don't feel like Human Lanterns always did the best job at this.
Still, for having some silly horror mixed in with some violent fight scenes, there was a good amount here that proved enjoyable. The kind of thing that gets a caution recommendation, for fans of this style of odd film, at least.
Suspiria (1977)
Very good
Suspiria was the first Dario Argento movie I watched, almost exactly 11 years ago to the day (Letterboxd tells me it was 16 May 2013). In the years since, I've seen most of his filmography, and I think this is the first film of his I've ever rewatched. It was kind of an unfair place to start, because I think it's his best by a decent margin. I'm not the biggest fan of him, but he is an interesting filmmaker, without a doubt, and Suspiria just feels like it offers the most of what makes him compelling.
It's all about how it looks and how it sounds. The use of color and all the sets/locations used are just amazing. It does capture the more nonsensical and indecipherable aspects of nightmares, to some extent, and in that sense, I think it has the capacity to still be decently unnerving. And the score by Goblin just never gets old. That theme repeats so much, but it's continually reworked and always used purposefully, and so I was never bothered by how much the same distinctive passages of music are used.
Suspiria is sluggish in parts, but does fly by when compared to the 2018 version (not exactly a remake). That one I also like, but felt a bit too long. 1977's Suspiria is tight enough so that the slower parts never feel too slow. There are nitpicks to be had surrounding the way it's written, with the characters and dialogue feeling rudimentary, but it's all in the style. It's big, loud, and in-your-face enough that Suspiria works purely based on how it looks, sounds, and feels, the last of those especially so during the more intense scenes. It's a fun horror film, and I think mostly deserves its classic status.
The Love Witch (2016)
Intentionally campy or incompetent/sluggish; witch is it?
The Love Witch was the first movie I saw for a double feature tonight, and I'd never heard of it before. Was mostly interested in the double feature for the second movie, 1977's Suspiria, but The Love Witch was definitely intriguing... But maybe a little frustrating and tedious as it went along, too.
It's distinctive, with memorable visuals and influences taken from all sorts of interesting places. It throws a lot of stuff into a blender and makes you drink it all.
It's good at first, but I think it wore out its welcome a bit in the second half. At two hours, it felt like a bit much, because there's a certain amount of repetition to the story. I feel like the pacing is sluggish, but possibly by design. Lots of lingering shots and scenes that go on about a minute or two longer than they need to, in a way that's either incompetent filmmaking or a wink to a certain kind of campy/old-school film. I'd lean towards guessing it was the latter, but it still got on my nerves throughout the second hour.
Much of this felt like a joke I wasn't quite in on. I can appreciate some of what it was saying, got a few chuckles from it, and the style/visuals on offer, but The Love Witch did prove a bit exhausting by the end of it all. I think there's a very good 80 to 90-minute movie in there somewhere.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)
Ups and downs
I've got some real mixed feelings about this one. Those past three movies were surprisingly good, and I was always skeptical about a fourth. The best thing I can say about the film (besides the special effects side of things) is that it does set itself a considerable amount of time later than the past three. How long isn't exactly clear, but it's good that these are new characters, and new conflicts, more or less.
As for the visuals, as mentioned before, it's all pretty good. It's hard to fault much by way of visual effects here, though there is a certain wow factor lacking. It's all very proficient and largely convincing, but it doesn't pop the way both the Avatar movies so far have, for example. Maybe you need a great filmmaker to know what to do with those visuals. The basics here are strong, because you do generally believe what you're seeing, but creatively, things aren't very inspired, especially when it comes to the action.
It's also too slow/long. To go back to Avatar, I didn't mind that last one being three hours. I wasn't bothered by the length of Babylon or Killers of the Flower Moon. But Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes - on top of having too long a title - is too long a movie, I'd say by 40 to 50 minutes. It needed to be cut down, and it needed to introduce its main villain sooner.
There was only one character I really liked here, and that character wasn't in the movie enough. The protagonist is fine, the main villain is fine (once he finally shows up), and the way future sequels were set up was also fine. It's a fine movie. It's not great. It was too long. But there was enough here to prevent me from calling it bad... though it lacked a certain something to make it feel essential. I'm unsure whether I'll see the next one, to be honest.