Data-1001

David and Rachel are very well-cast as Clark and Lois, and despite my less-than-stellar rating, I do hope they get a chance to reprise those roles in a better sequel.

Unfortunately, I didn't think much of Nicholas Hoult's Lex Luthor. Hoult is a solid actor, but the characterization here didn't work for me at all. Luthor comes off as whiny and weak. Despite all of his technological wizardry, you never felt like he was a true threat -- he instead came across as one of those blowhards who will eventually be the instrument of their own demise.

The story itself -- while perfectly serviceable -- failed to grab me on any sort of emotional level

I have to blame two things: writing for one, but taking most of the blame is the directing. I can't quite put my finger on why I wasn't as drawn in as I wanted to be, but it's not up to a viewer to figure that out. That's up to the writer and director. And they failed.

But it's an okay way to spend a few hours, so 7/10 it is. I was just hoping for so much more.

I've never seen anything from this actress before, but after watching her in this, I'm shocked she has any sort of career. The worst bits were in the movie-within-a-movie, where she stood out like a sore thumb. I suspect a small part of that may have been intentional, but why would the people within the movie cast the actor she's portraying if she was so obviously bad. And then the scenes outside the movie-within-a-movie aren't much better. I don't generally like to blame one person for a movie or show not working, but she's simply terrible -- so much so that after a half hour or so, I gave up on this episode.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is by far the most thoughtful of all the PotA movies. It takes its time, and the result is that we see a lot of backstory and even character development before much action happens.

The weakest part of the movie is the part which takes place in the titular "kingdom" -- and the best parts are with the Eagle Clan and during Noa's journey with Raka.

The voice acting is superb. The CGI is better than ever, with such subtle emotions showing on the faces of the apes, we don't even miss the incredible motion-capture work of Andy Serkis in this outing.

Noa takes the hero's journey from a brash and impulsive youth to a character who proves to be more than capable of being a strong leader.

I didn't think I was going to enjoy this movie as much as I did, but it gives me new hope for the continuation of this franchise.