The “Planet of the Apes” universe is extraordinarily thoughtful, even insightful. If science fiction places us in a universe that is different enough for our mental barriers just to be overcome by daring questions, the “APES” films are one of the best examples.

At the start of the 1968 film, star Charlton Heston explains, “I can't help thinking that somewhere in the universe must be something better than man.” One might expect, from a movie like this, that “better” species to be the apes. But as it turns out, we may have to keep looking. 

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, follows the successful reboot franchise that was launched in 2011 with Rise of the Planet of the Apes and became a trilogy starring Caesar, an intelligent and peaceful leader of the apes played by Andy Serkis. A brilliant and expressive motion capture was used to create realistic CGI animals. Wes Ball, the director of The Maze Runner trilogy, has stepped into this series with an installment that is not exactly a reboot, but instead jumps back in time, with different characters, marking a new twist. Whatever it's called, this action spectacle resorts to the same dazzling movement capture, but doesn't bring anything new or particularly interesting to the fore.

Looking at the state of the earth, one wonders if the apes could do worst. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes presents a reign-and a movie-almost free of humans, and while that ape-ridden planet isn't necessarily getting any worse, it's definitely not an improvement. Same old search for power, same old questions about whom we can trust, and, unfortunately, the same old movie.

The new story is set so many generations after Caesar's death that Noa, the ape-hero played by Owen Teague (It), has no idea who he was even though he benefited from Caesar's legacy. Noa's home is a quiet, wooded place where the ape villagers have built tree houses made of branches. They haven't discovered technology, but they are much more fluent in English than before.

In the film's first major action scene, Noa's village is attacked by horseback-riding apes wearing rusty masks and wielding torches and taser-shaped spears. The scene is cleverly orchestrated to make us part of Noa's horror as they set her village on fire and take the survivors prisoner. Wes Ball brings fresh blood, new ideas and superb motion capture to this high quality summer blockbuster.

The latest film, “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” takes up the story exactly where that trilogy ended: with the death of Caesar, the ultra-intelligent chimpanzee who has led the apes away from what's left of humanity and into paradise. (The scene was a direct quote from the story of Moses leading the Israelites to the Promised Land, but dying just before he could step foot there.)

History, of course, has a habit of repeating itself, whether in ancient Rome or Egypt, and in the proclamations of Proximo Caesar one detects a bit of Ozymandias: Look upon his works, ye mighty ones, and despair! “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is set in the future, but, like many works of science fiction, such as ‘Dune,’ ‘Battlestar Galactica’ or Walter Miller's ‘Canticle of Leibowitz,’ there is a sense that all this has happened before and will happen again.

Whether Caesar ever existed is unknown to Noa (Owen Teague), a young chimpanzee whose father, Koro (Neil Sandilands), is the leader of his clan and an avid bird breeder. That clan has its own laws, mostly having to do with how to treat the birds' nests, and that's all Noa and his friends Anaya (Travis Jeffery) and Shona (Lydia Peckham) have ever known. 

One exception is Mae (Freya Allan), a young girl Noa and Raka (Peter Macon) meet on their way to the settlement of Proximus. She's not much of character, and mostly represents the question of whether apes and humans can trust each other and coexist. The film's role of William H. Macy, the other human character, plays a man who has survived Proximus' capture by reading books to him, a skill the apes have not yet mastered.

If you've seen War for the Planet of the Apes (2017), the final installment of Caesar's trilogy, you may be surprised at how derivative the final stretch of Kingdom is. Once again, a ruthless leader holds apes prisoner in an abandoned weapons depot. This time everything is rusted from the passage of time and the ruler is Proximus instead of Woody Harrelson's Colonel, but still. Can't they come up with anything better to set off the inevitable explosion?

Coming behind the impressive CGI, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is the definition of generic, the two hours and 25 minutes it runs. The conclusion heralds a sequel that offers a more intriguing conflict, but that doesn't help us now.