An inspired reworking, and Durand’s delighted reading of the role of grandiose star turned villain invests this paradoxical epic – in the end, it’s a small story with planetary significance literally as an aside – with humour and horror in equal measure.

Kingdom... is more than a big-budget epic: it explores dilemmas that haunt our real world and has so much empathy for its characters you wonder if it wants us to root for the apes, rather than the humans.

Ball’s movie — intended as the start of a new story arc featuring new characters — is the typical bloated and bland franchise fodder that can only come out of a Hollywood that relishes IP as far as its name and no further.

While pacing issues and an underdeveloped subplot keep it from the upper tier of ‘Apes’ entries, ‘Kingdom’ is still a worthy installment that should leave fans largely satisfied.