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• Mission Raniganj: The Great Bharat Rescue

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Mission Raniganj: The Great Bharat Rescue Movie Review : Mission Raniganj makes you want to escape some loud bad acting and jarring indifference

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Refrain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or inflammatory, and do not indulge in personal attacks, name calling or inciting hatred against any community. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines by marking them offensive . Let's work together to keep the conversation civil.

ganesh bodake 15 6 days ago

Must watch movie. Instead of watching blunder biopics like ms dhoni must watch and get inspired by such true heroes biopics.. AK did it well...

khushisingla24 133 113 days ago

I never reviewed any movie before. Must-watch! Idk why people gave that low rating to this movie, I want to tell you this movie is wholesome. Please watch it. Super movie. Akshay Sir, I �� you.<br/>(P.s. I'm not die-hard fan of any actor, but Akshay sir, you're amazing).

Teslathegod 121 days ago

Visual were not so good but acting and build up was amazing

Tiyashasadhu 151 days ago

Masterpiece

Naina Krishen Pandita Pandita 77 154 days ago

Please give it an unbiased review. Don't become slaves of nonsensical movies

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Mission Raniganj Review: The Intrepid Engineer Played By Akshay Kumar Deserved A Much Better Film

Mission raniganj review: the film reinforces the lingering belief that hindi cinema should leave true stories alone, especially if akshay kumar is to be placed at the centre of the action..

Akshay Kumar and Parineeti in a song from the movie. (Courtesy: AkshayKumar )

The unprecedented rescue of 65 trapped miners by a real-life hero, a Coal India officer who put his life on the line in the process, is reenacted in Mission Raniganj, directed by Tinu Suresh Desai and written by Vipul K. Rawal. The film is marred by excesses of the kind that leave no room for addressing themes beyond the surface of things.

Mission Raniganj , set in Mahabir Colliery in West Bengal's Raniganj area, does not dig deep enough as it mines the story of Jaswant Singh Gill, an intrepid engineer whose valour is part of Indian mining folklore. The man deserved a much better film.

The film reinforces the lingering belief that Hindi cinema should leave true stories alone, especially if Akshay Kumar is to be placed at the centre of the action.   Mission Raniganj suffers the deleterious consequences of the spotlight being focused on the star rather than on the issues surrounding the mining disaster.

Cast your mind back to Kala Patthar . Yash Chopra's 1979 film, inspired mainly by the Chasnala mining tragedy from four years earlier and partly by Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim, had a disgraced Merchant Navy captain who sought redemption in the depths of the earth. The principal character and the story had layers that imparted power to the film.

  Mission Raniganj , which does have references to Chasnala in passing, has no depth of any sort. Barring the pretty obvious unwaveringly good guy versus a bunch of bad (and worse, lazy) guys and a mining disaster construct, the film has little to offer.

Gill is reduced to a single-note character and his incredible story is rendered merely as an ear-splitting, broad strokes spectacle. The lead actor's limited-bandwidth performance is of no help. As the makers of this film envision him, he is a larger-than-life figure who isn't assailed by any doubts or moments of weakness.

Undeterred by the chaos around him and never dithering, he goes about the job of saving the workers gasping for breath in an inundated coal mining pit as if he were a man strolling in a park. The enormity of his achievement - he devises an untested rescue method - and the magnitude of his courage and commitment are undermined in the process.

Gill's pregnant wife, Nirdosh Kaur (Parineeti Chopra, seen in four and a half sequences), is an epitome of fortitude and patience. When her husband advises her to exercise caution, she retorts that women back in her pind (village) work in the fields one day and go into labour the very next day without batting an eyelid. Contrast that with the locals, men and women alike - they are either despairing crybabies or habitual no-hopers who cannot do without a saviour from a land of warriors.

The trapped miners - among them are men played by Ravi Kishan, Sudhir Pandey, Jameel Khan and Omkar Das Manikpuri - bicker incessantly as their chances of getting out alive recede, oxygen levels fall  and the water that has gushed into the pit gets closer to the elevated part of the channel that they have sought refuge in.

The desperate men are frequently at each other's throats and, as panic mounts, do everything in their power to jeopardise their own lives. Their distressed family members, mostly women and elderly men, rave and rant and howl and holler. One of them, having lost hope of seeing her son again, slaps Gill in the heat of the moment only to regret her action soon enough.

The officer takes it on the chin and continues to do what has got to be done to ensure that the miners are rescued even as a bunch of recalcitrant Bengalis try to make things difficult for him. This bunch of men is led by mining engineer D. Sen (Dibyendu Bhattacharya), a well-worn pop-culture stereotype of the slothful native of Bengal.

Sen, stationed in Ranchi, is the villain of the story. He claims that he knows the area like the back of his hand and should, therefore, be in charge of the rescue operation. He wants to see Jaswant Singh's daring mission fail because he cannot stand the Mahabir Colliery chief R.J. Ujjwal (Kumud Mishra).

His disruptive interventions border on the farcical as does his general demeanour. He is shown eating, drinking hot milk, putting his feet up without a care in the world and getting a lackey to massage him while Gill and his team do not so much as take a single breather.

The Raniganj mine crisis occurred in November 1989 in the coal belt of West Bengal on the border of what was Bihar back then. The Left Front was in its third term as the ruling formation in Calcutta.

Although the film offers frequent flashes of red party flags being waved in the background, it isn't interested in exploring the impact of trade unionism on the mines or questions of safety measures and working conditions.

That would have required a great deal of research as well as knowledge and understanding of contemporary state-level politics and the workings of Coal India. All this is beyond the makers' ken. So they choose the easiest way out.

The film pits a fearless and fastidious North Indian knight in shining armour not just against a mining accident of daunting proportions but also against a bunch of not just unhelpful but also corrupt, cowardly and self-serving locals, which includes a smarmy politician, Gobardhan Roy (Rajesh Sharma).

The bashing of Bengalis assumes a literal form late in the film when one of them is subjected to lathi blows by a man who holds him and his ilk responsible for giving Bengal a bad name. In a crunch situation, Sen exhorts his two assistants, a Sengupta and a Roy, to show the world what a Royal Bengal Tiger is made of. The pair develops cold feet. The 'tigers' chicken out.

Mission Raniganj opens with a sequence in which a workers' leader, a blustery Bengali of course, demands the reinstatement of a miner dismissed from service on the charge of being drunk on duty. In walks Gill and puts the man in his place. Suitably chastened by the Sardar's iron-fist-in-velvet-gloves toughness, he beats a hasty retreat. We immediately know what the protagonist is up against.

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All this would be dismissed as plain silly had the film's superficial ways not undermined the innately dramatic tale so irretrievably. Mission Raniganj is the sort of film that manages to reduce an actor of Kumud Mishra's range to a nonentity. He struggles to breathe life into a man who is grappling with blood pressure and sinking spirits and who is, therefore. compelled to let Gill hog the limelight.

In conclusion, all that one can say about a film that makes a hash of a wonderful tale of grit, gumption and glory is: what a disaster! Mission Raniganj  is high-intensity drama undermined by low-calibre filmmaking.

Akshay Kumar, Parineeti Chopra, Kumud Mishra, Pawan Malhotra, Ravi Kishan

Tinu Suresh Desai

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Mission Raniganj

Mining engineer Jaswant Singh Gill leads a challenging rescue mission to save 65 miners trapped in a flooded coal mine. Mining engineer Jaswant Singh Gill leads a challenging rescue mission to save 65 miners trapped in a flooded coal mine. Mining engineer Jaswant Singh Gill leads a challenging rescue mission to save 65 miners trapped in a flooded coal mine.

• Tinu Suresh Desai
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• Vipul K. Rawal
• Akshay Kumar
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• Trivia Was initially titled "Capsule Gill" which was later changed to "The Great Indian Rescue". In September 2023, with the poster release, the name was changed to "Mission Raniganj: The Great Bharat Rescue".

User reviews 77

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• Oct 6, 2023
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• October 6, 2023 (India)
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Mission Raniganj Movie Review: Akshay Kumar Shines In This Engaging Film

Written By : Sonil Dedhia

Edited By: Shrishti Negi

Last Updated: October 06, 2023, 10:17 IST

Mumbai, India

Mission Raniganj U/A

• 6 October 2023 | Hindi
• 2 hrs 14 mins | Action, Biography, Drama
• Starring: Akshay Kumar, Parineeti Chopra, Rajesh Sharma, Ravi Kishan, Pawan Malhotra
• Director: Tinu Suresh Desai
• Music: Sandeep Shirodkar

Mission Raniganj Movie Review: Akshay Kumar film is a story of human triumph which has been narrated well. It is an engaging experience that will resonate emotionally with the audience.

Mission Raniganj Movie Review: A rescue thriller, Mission Raniganj chronicles the story of how Additional Chief Mining Engineer Jaswant Singh Gill (played by Akshay Kumar) along with his team evacuates 65 mine workers from a flooded coal mine in Raniganj, West Bengal, in 1989. It is the story of how a brave heart rescued the miners when almost everyone had given up on the thought of their survival. Gill and his team faced numerous challenges and hurdles during the rescue operation which went on for three days, but they eventually succeeded in their mission, making it one of the bravest rescue operations in the country.

Such a fantastic, riveting plot based on a true story, but it’s sad to see director Tinu Suresh Desai succumb to the lazy tropes of Hindi films. There is no need for a song right at the start of the film. Scenes giving a sense of the disorder and destruction lack the dramatic punch. Like his protagonist, Desai is better with dialogue than action. He deftly shows what happens when you cram too many people in a small space. Tempers flare, compassion kicks in, and despite all of it united we stand.

But Desai’s execution is inexplicable. The director has a talented primary cast in place, but the production design and VFX departments appear too weak. His poor direction coupled with a screenplay by Vipul K Rawal that urgently required more thought, results in a silly, tacky, confusing film. As critics, we often complain about the slow pacing of the films. In Mission Raniganj’s case, the first half is which mostly explains the entire structure of the mines, moving at the neck break speed. A great deal happens on the screen and rather than explaining to the audience, it just leaves them confused. The operation required the involvement of scores of minds at the top and the bottom of Coal India and the Indian government, but the film claims that one and only one man was responsible.

That is not to say that Mission Raniganj has no redeeming features at all. It does. By far the best thing about the film is its surprisingly uncluttered storytelling in the second half. The film picks up pace in the second half and that is where all the action happens. Less talk and more action are always the best policy when a film flies into a haze. Desai finally manages to redeem the film and fashions a taut, engaging thriller out of an incident that would, on paper, appear to be more worthy of a documentary.

The film turns the real-life story into a one-man mission, but we do see other players. There’s the committed senior mining officer (Kumud Mishra), who works tirelessly alongside Gill sifting through government procedures and pleading within the company to get things going. Pawan Malhotra as T P Bindal, a jugadu who has a welding workshop is first-rate. Dibyendu Bhattacharya is appropriately annoying as the cantankerous mining officer who is against this rescue mission due to internal politics.

But Mission Raniganj, expectedly, rests on Akshay Kumar’s shoulders, and he underplays the heroism beautifully, bringing quiet but steely resolve to the character, even delivering the stray note of humor almost conversationally. There’s almost none of his starry baggage in this performance, which easily counts among his best. On the other hand, Parineeti Chopra who plays his wife (Nirdosh Gill) doesn’t have any screen time and hardly has anything to do in the film. Ravi Kishen, Inaamulhaq, and Jameel Khan among others who play the miners are decent.

There are logical loopholes, but for the most part human tragedy is always the focus. Even as it raises the patriotism card it restrains itself from stooping to melodrama. It could have been taut and more gripping, but it still works because ultimately it’s all about the story, which is often set aside in Bollywood. It is a story of human triumph which has been narrated well. It is an engaging experience that will resonate emotionally with the audience.

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Mission Raniganj Movie Review: Akshay Kumar led biopic-drama is an eye-opener on the lives of the miners

Akshay Kumar led biopic-drama Mission Raniganj is engaging and a must watch.

Language: Hindi and Bengali

Director: Tinu Suresh Desai

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Parineeti Chopra, Kumud Mishra, Pavan Malhotra

Nobody really knows about the incident of the miners being trapped in a dark hole in the small industrial town of Raniganj, West Bengal. Akshay Kumar’s Mission Raniganj talks about the resilience and dedication of the miners. People are aware of the armed forces contribution to the nation and how their lives are always in danger. But not many are actually aware of the risky lives led by the miners?

Mission Raniganj is an engaging film based on real incidents and that is what works for the audience. With minute details on research and not trying to glamorise a serious happening makes the film stand out. When the incident happened in 1989, The Left Front was the rulling part and we do catch a few glimpses in the movie of the fluttering red flag.

The story is on what happened in Raniganj, West Bengal, in 1989 when the coal mine got flooded. And how Additional Chief Mining Engineer Jaswant Singh Gill (Akshay Kumar) along with his team evacuates 65 mine workers. It is about how these brave miners never gave up hope and continued to fight for their survival. Jaswant Singh Gill (Akshay Kumar) at the risk of his life saved these miners from the dead hole facing several challenges. The movie shows how some of the people of West Bengal tried to politicize the whole incident at the cost of the life of the miners. But Gill never gave up on hope and finally succeeded in saving the miners.

The best thing about Mission Raniganj is that it is based on solid facts. But yes ever movie needs some spices and Mission Raniganj was no exception. But what cannot be appreciated is the ornamental role given to Parineeti Chopra. It was bit too unrealistic and obviously she didn’t add any value to the story. And again the Bengali bashing is very evident in the film which could have been done in a better way. They are shown as a bunch of self-centred and  lazy people. Well, how true is that bit of the story?

It was an out and out typical Akshay Kumar film. A lot could have been done to show the lives of the miners. But the total emphasis was on Jaswant Singh Gill (Akshay Kumar). True he is a brave heart and when nobody agreed to go down the dead hole to save the miners, he was the only person who volunteered. But these miners, according to me, were the bravest. But to some extent all the actors who played the role of miners were not given their due.

The management in charge Ujjwal ( Kumud Mishra ) is seen to be continuously smoking frantically with his hands shaking and weeping away to glory. Kumud Mishra, considering the kind of brilliant craftsman he is, could have done a better job. On the othwr hand, the characters of Bindal (Pavan Malhotra) and Tapan (Veerendra Saxena) have a lot of layers. Tapan initially disagrees to help Gill in his mission. It is Bindal, the man Friday of the film who supplies drills for operation and it is Tapan who helps in pinpointing the exact location where the miners could be waiting to save themselves from the flood.

But above everything, the movie rightfully highlighted how life of the proletarait class is considered to be nothing as compared to the egos of the big shots in the business. It also highlights how the proletariats are still ignored  in India. They go down the dead hole for meagre wages at the risk of their lives and not even a proper medical kit is provided to them. The film also shows corruption at different levels. Leaving aside the drawbacks of the film,  Mission Raniganj on the whole is a well- researched film  and an engrossing human-drama which needs to be watched.

Rating: 3 out of 5

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Lachmi Deb Roy is the entertainment editor of Firtspost, Network18. She reviews films and series with a gender lens. Her interviews are called 'Not Just Bollywood' because she takes huge interest in world cinema. OTT over theatrical releases is her preference unless and until its a King Khan film. She takes interest in fashion, food and art reviews too. see more

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'Mission Raniganj: The Great Bharat Rescue' movie review: Melodrama that doesn’t drill deep

Screenwriter Blake Snyder coined the term ‘Save the Cat’. It basically means that in a story, particularly a film story, the protagonist should quickly do something (like saving a cat) to make them instantly likeable to the audience. Imagine a cat is stuck on top of a tree branch, with its hair raised and the heroine (whose feline it is) is crying out for her below. In comes our hero. He takes off his shirt, flaunts his triceps and climbs up the tree. He takes the scaredy cat in his arms and ruffles its head. The heroine claps and maybe gives him a flying kiss. But if our hero is Akshay Kumar, he probably won’t be willing to come down so soon. He will wait for the media to arrive. You know, get some pictures clicked with the cat while garlanding it and putting a tika on its forehead. Then he might just declare it as the national animal.

If the above sounds like an exaggerated attempt at drilling a point, maybe you should watch Mission Raniganj: The Great Bharat Rescue. The way the makers desperately tried to rev up every scene, in order to pull out emotions from us, felt as exhausting as an interrogation. Raniganj… is one of those films where the background music dictates how the viewer should perceive a scene and not the scene itself. A few minutes into it, I felt like the makers might as well start shaking our seats to make us feel. Wailing villagers, miners crying for help from the underground, there is even a dog who is shown so intensely sad that for a while I thought they were going to send its name for best actor.

The film is based on an inspiring tale. In 1989, additional chief mining engineer Jaswant Singh Gill led a rescue operation to save 65 miners stuck in Mahabir Colliery in West Bengal’s Raniganj. An explosion to excavate coal had led to a sudden influx of water and the mine was flooding rapidly. To make matters worse, oxygen was depleting underground. The clock was ticking. Gill devised a method. He drilled a hole in the ground and pushed through a life-sized metal capsule to evacuate each miner, one by one. It took six hours but he saved everyone. For his bravery, the engineer was awarded the ‘Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak’ by President Ramaswamy Venkataraman in 1991.

Like any inspirational real-life story, this one too drowns in the age-old Bollywood formula of bland storytelling. We have Akshay Kumar as Jaswant Singh Gill, who walks fast and talks fast because ‘humara dushman hain, waqt (Time is our enemy)’. Most times he appears on screen, he is shot in low camera angles and is treated like a demigod. In a discussion, he also has to have the most quoteworthy last words. When the naysayer engineer D Sen (Dibyendu Bhattacharya) contends that there is a high possibility that the miners might be dead, Gill quickly retorts, “With due respect sir, assumption is not a solution.” And we were supposed to cheer, hoot and clap, but what I felt like was raising both my eyebrows and saying, “Oof! What drama.”

A competent actor like Kumud Mishra, in a bid to achieve intensity, ends up parodying his character. He plays RJ Ujjwal, Gill’s boss, whose way of dealing with the crisis is smoking profusely. It’s just that Mishra overdoes his nervous act so much that it feels like he might get a panic attack at any moment. The film leaves out no opportunity to get into excessive melodrama. In the mine below, the workers are living in an 80s socialist film. Jameel Khan plays Pasu, a miner who is urging everybody to stay positive and believe that the management will save them, while Ravi Kishan is the in-house pessimist Bhola whose adage is ‘Maroge sab ke sab’ (Everybody will die). The scenes showing disagreement between the workers are tiresome with blockades rather quickly resolved. It appears that Raniganj… already had a cliched narrative structure and merely used a biography to give it some meat. As a result, characters feel caricaturish and even true events seem outlandish.

To show the paucity of time, in several instances, a digital clock keeps flashing on the screen. Situations occur in quick succession, jargon is thrown around, and people look out for drills and cranes. The camera work is dizzying. Coherence isn’t the purpose as much as inducing caution. Raniganj… is the film version of a person who thinks talking fast is talking smart.

The impending threat the film keeps harping about is a gush of water, so heavily CGIed that it seems cartoonish. I once did believe in the water though, when Akshay rose out of it, water beads running down his head as if he was an idol. Did his stick-on beard come off a little?

Film: Mission Raniganj: The Great Bharat Rescue

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Parineeti Chopra, Kumud Mishra, Dibyendu Bhattacharya

Directed by:Tinu Suresh Desai

Rating: 2/5

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Mission Raniganj: The Great Bharat Rescue Movie Review

Mission Raniganj: The Great Bharat Rescue Devesh Sharma , Oct 6, 2023, 20:57 IST

Mission raniganj: the great bharat rescue.

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Mission Rescue Reviews

The improvised intelligence displayed by Gill refuses to be cancelled out by Akshay Kumar’s single-note performance. There’s Parineeti Chopra too as Gill’s equally noble wife, who contributes little beyond the support expected of the spouse.

Full Review | Oct 6, 2023

Do Bollywood's big stars ever think of how their efforts are derailed by outdated melodrama, and the pointless insistence on heroics rather than heroism?

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Oct 6, 2023

Mission Raniganj is high-intensity drama undermined by low-calibre filmmaking.

This inspiring story of a real-life hero suffers because of one-dimensional treatment; in its euphoria to celebrate Jaswant Singh Gill’s guts, the film almost forgets the six miners who lost their lives in the accident.

Portrayal of a brave attempt made to rescue the poor and not just billionaires in submersibles is great, but it takes more than intent to get the sentiment across.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Oct 6, 2023

Akshay Kumar stands tall in this daring and daunting rescue thriller.

We need more films to celebrate real life heroes like Jaswant Singh Gill. Watch the film to raise a cheer in his memory.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 6, 2023

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Mission Raniganj Movie Review

06 Oct 2023 | U/A | 134 Mins

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Mission Raniganj Review: Akshay Kumar led biopic-drama will make every Indian's chest swell with pride

Akshay kumar led mission raniganj: the great bharat rescue, directed by tinu suresh desai, is a very gritty and engaging evacuation-drama. before planning to watch the film, read our full review., by rishil jogani.

Mission Raniganj is a gritty evacuation drama that hits the right notes (Credit: Pooja Entertainment)

Key Highlight

• Mission Raniganj: The Great Bharat Rescue is a very thrilling and engaging film
• Akshay Kumar reprises the role of Jaswant Singh Gill in Mission Raniganj
• Mission Raniganj plays at a theatre near you from today

Name: The Great Indian Rescue

Director: tinu suresh desai, cast: parineeti chopra,akshay kumar,ravi kishan,dibyendu bhattacharya, rating: 3.5.

Mission Raniganj is the story of how Additional Chief Mining Engineer Jaswant Singh Gill ( Akshay Kumar ) along with his team evacuates 65 mine workers from a flooded coal mine in Raniganj, West Bengal, in 1989. It is the story of how a braveheart rescues the miners when almost everyone has given up on the thought of their survival. Through the three days that the rescue operation goes on for, Gill and his team face numerous challenges and hurdles, but they eventually succeed in their mission, making it one of the greatest and grittiest rescue operations in the country.

What works:

Mission Raniganj is a very engaging and thrilling film that will keep you on the edge of your seats. At just over 2 hours, the biopic-drama is a very smooth sail. The film is high on emotions and by the end of it, one is sure to have chills through their spine. The scenes in the coal mine are very suffocating and that should be seen as a great win as it ensures that the audiences are able to feel even a fraction of what the mine workers went through, when they were stuck in the coal mine. Mission Raniganj is able to successfully track down the moles in the entire system and also show how oppressed and surpressed the labour class still is in India. At numerous junctures, the life of mine workers is reduced to nothing by corrupt officials and it isn't much different even in real life where a big fat paycheck suits their pockets more than human lives. Talking about the technical aspects, the film has been shot well, particularly the scenes in the mines. The background score is high on adrenaline. The song 'Jeetega' gives instant goosebumps. Editing is super sharp.

What doesn't:

Mission Raniganj has multiple clichés through its course. The writing is convenient at a few instances, which if avoided, could have made the film even more compelling than it already is. The film gets unneccessarily loud in certains portions. Lastly, the antagonist feels poorly written. The writing of antagonists in Hindi films has become stereotypical now. Apart from that, there's not much to complain about this well made film.

Watch the Mission Raniganj trailer:

Mission Raniganj Movie Acting Performances:

Akshay Kumar as Jaswant Singh Gill is very dependable. He delivers a good performance but really shines in the last 30 minutes of the film. Parineeti Chopra doesn't have much role in the film but she lights the screen whenever she appears. Mission Raniganj boasts of a great supporting cast. Everyone from Kumud Mishra to Ravi Kishan and other mine workers, is brilliant. They are the life of the film. How much ever is said about them feels very little.

Mission Raniganj Movie Final Verdict:

Mission Raniganj is a film that should be right on top of everyone's watchlist. It is among the best films starring Akshay Kumar in recent times and warrants a theatre watch. Strongly recommended.

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Home » Movies » Bollywood Movie Reviews

Mission Raniganj Movie Review: Akshay Kumar’s Disaster-Thriller Is More Of A Disaster & Less Of A Thriller, Couldn’t Even Visually Match 1979’s Kaala Patthar Led By Amitabh Bachchan

Yes, it's a low-budget film; no, that's not an excuse to serve such crappy vfx in the garb of narrating a 'real-life, heroic' tale remember 1979's classic kaala patthar.

Star Cast: Akshay Kumar, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Kumud Mishra, Jameel Khan, Ravi Kishan, Pavan Malhotra, Rajesh Sharma, Virendra Saxena, Sudhir Pandey, Shishir Sharma, Parineeti Chopra

Director: Tinu Suresh Desai

What’s Good: The real-life story on which the film is based & the incidents that follow

What’s Bad: Everything apart from the story

Loo Break: Y.E.S

Watch or Not?: Even if you’re interested in Jaswant Singh Gill’s story, read the articles around it & watch his old interviews rather than watching this lazy, lousy attempt

Available On: Theatrical Release

Runtime: 2 hours 14 minutes

It’s 1989, the year when West Bengal’s Raniganj dodged heavy rains. Still, the water stayed silent underground for months only to flood in, causing another disaster that’s heroically averted by Jaswant Singh Gill ( Akshay Kumar ), who’d be known as ‘Capsule Gill’ in the future. This is the story of the disasters miners faced while mining for coal.

While blasting the walls below the surface, a watergate gets smashed, allowing the harsh inflow to risk the lives of 65 miners in the mine. While they hope for a new lease of life, Jaswant gets entangled in the politics of how to treat this mission so it could benefit the political parties. How he fought with the system, making the most of whatever was available, accomplishing a mission that would’ve been impossible even for Tom Cruise , is what the crux of the story is.

Mission Raniganj Movie Review: Script Analysis

Before people bash me for bashing the film, remember my criticism is for the execution: the story of Jaswant Singh Gill has always been a winner. My criticism is for Akshay Kumar’s template of making ‘limited efforts’ because if you can’t finish a film in 45 days, “laanat hai tum par!” The makers didn’t even bother to match the style of the beard because it would have required some effort to grow it naturally instead of donning an artificial one.

The green screen screams louder than Ravi Kishan, who has done nothing but burst out loud at the top of his lungs. Every scene clearly distinguishes the difference between the background & the foreground, making the green screen more visible than ever. It also looks like Akshay has shot many scenes alone, with the director stitching his scenes with others’ using some choppy editing tricks.

Yes, it’s a low-budget film; no, that’s not an excuse to serve such crappy VFX in the garb of narrating a ‘real-life, heroic’ tale! Remember 1979’s classic Kaala Patthar? The Amitabh Bachchan starrer was better in every sense (visually, too) & that was 40 years ago.

Mission Raniganj Movie Review: Star Performance

We all respect Akshay Kumar’s thought process behind doing multiple projects, and creating multiple job opportunities for people in the industry, but that’s clearly been hampering the quality of his projects. After Ram Setu, this is yet another example of how makers are losing good stories at the cost of finishing up early. It’s like a kid saying, “I’ll finish up three hours of homework in 30 minutes because I can write fast,” & not remembering a word when asked about anything from it.

You need a special talent to waste Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Kumud Mishra, Jameel Khan , Ravi Kishan, and Pavan Malhotra all at once, and that’s what the director possesses the best.

Mission Raniganj Movie Review: Direction, Music

Tinu Suresh Desai surprised everyone with Rustom after the dud that was in 1920 London, but this one proves why the 2016 film could actually be either a fluke or ghost-directed by someone else because this one is a mess from the word go.

It says a lot about a music producer’s thought process when you rope in a singer like Satinder Sartaaj & go to B Praak for the signature song of your film. Imagine Satinder crooning Kumar Vishwas’ lines! They had all the resources but refused to use it wisely. None of the pieces click. Sandeep Shirodkar’s BGM is too loud but fails to match the decibels of the green-screen scream.

Mission Raniganj Movie Review: The Last Word

All said and done, it’s not the story of this Akshay Kumar starrer that falters; it’s how the director has executed everything that is of poor quality. This deserved a better team, with Akshay Kumar leading the project.

Mission Raniganj Trailer

Mission Raniganj releases on 06th October, 2023.

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Netflix’s new comedic thriller “Bodkin” opens with the show’s protagonist, Gilbert Power ( Will Forte ), stating, “When I started this podcast, I didn't expect to solve anything. I didn't expect it to change my life.” It sets up the characters' preoccupations well, and also exposes the main problem with the genre their fictional series is embedded in. The series follows American true crime podcast host Gilbert and his researcher Emmy ( Robyn Cara ), who team up with journalist Dove ( Siobhán Cullen ) to uncover the mysterious disappearances that plagued the Irish town of Bodkin decades prior. 

As these amateur detectives continue to dig deeper for answers, they garner the attention of the town's various inhabitants. Some are fans of the show, while others are more than hostile to the new visitors. Despite this, Gilbert and Emmy are determined to get another hit on their hands, while Dove becomes entwined with the mystery and will stop at nothing to expose their identity. The three of them start off on the wrong foot, but as the series unfolds, they grow to care for one another, and surprisingly, their different methods of interviewing and interrogating work in the group's favor. 

From the first glares the trio receives, it’s clear that Bodkin and its community are hiding some big secrets. On their first few days in the town, this causes a malicious hit-and-run (thankfully, it doesn’t end in death) and their driver’s car to be set on fire. The town’s charming scenery, which often catches Gilbert off guard, covers up a woven bed of secrets that each member of the community wants to keep hidden. This is the main point of contention in the series and works well to showcase the failings of the true crime genre.

The series, in its first few episodes, is about the repercussions that come with telling a story about a place you’re not originally from and a place whose people don’t trust outsiders. Whether it be a podcast or a documentary, the relationship that listeners or viewers have with the media they consume is one filled with discord. Right off the bat, Gilbert says to Emmy that “the best stories are always mysteries,” showing us that he himself doesn’t understand that the stories he’s telling belong to real people. Dove on the other hand aptly compares true crime podcasts to “public hangings” putting her and Gilbert and Emmy on opposite sides of the play field.

As the series further unfolds, the themes it was attempting to juggle aren’t necessarily gone from “Bodkin’s” inner workings. Still, they do take a backseat compared to the actual mystery at hand. However, with episode 4, the show begins to give a voice to the supporting characters, giving a voice to the people whom the trio of protagonists unknowingly exploit. The most interesting here is undoubtedly Seamus (David Wilmont), one of the town's most illusive, and powerful members. While Dove is convinced that he is responsible for the disappearances of the three people who went missing during the Samhain festival, Gilbert isn’t so convinced. 

In an attempt to get more information from the man, Gilbert spends the better part of episodes 4 and 5 with Seamus. In their time together, it becomes apparent to Gilbert and us that there’s more to him than meets the eye. The growing relationship between the two is almost heartwarming – if such a word can exist in a black comedy like this – and the chemistry between Forte and Wilmot is electric. As they drive around to settle a debt Gilbert has with a bar patron, the two confide in each other about their romantic and life failings. As their relationship becomes more sincere, Gilbert becomes increasingly desperate for Seamus not to be the evil man Dove is convinced he is. It’s the best relationship in a series that hinges on brief or extended conversations and truly allows the show's writing and acting to shine.

Ultimately, “Bodkin” succeeds in a landscape of thrillers and true crime expansions. It expertly crafts a riveting mystery but also fleshes out its central – and supporting – characters. A series like this hinges on the chemistry of the show’s cast, and thankfully, each and every player gives it their all. Dove’s determination and coyness mix well with Gilbert and Emmy’s sweet disposition and, in turn, allow the Americans to become detectives in their own right. The difference in how they not only see the world but see their professions allows them to crack the case wide open and expose that this cold case might not even be lukewarm. 

Instead, the case at hand is a simmering beast waiting to be exposed, lying dormant beneath the soil of Bodkin for decades. It’s been waiting to be unearthed, and with the work of Dove, Gilbert, and Emmy, it soon will be. Each secret is mentioned by a passerby fleetingly, though the biggest ones stay hidden between the tight-lipped mouths of the show's most important players. The story never overstays its welcome and instead unfolds into one of the most entertaining shows of the year. Underneath it all is a warning that perhaps some things don’t need to be uncovered, and perhaps they’re left better off dead. 

All episodes were screened for review. On Netflix now.

Kaiya Shunyata

Kaiya Shunyata is a freelance pop culture writer and academic based in Canada. They have written for RogerEbert.com, Xtra, Okayplayer, The Daily Beast, AltPress and more. 

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Review: ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ monkeys with a durable sci-fi concept, to smart ends

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Since Charlton Heston first gazed upon the remnants of the Statue of Liberty on a sandy beach 56 years ago, the “Planet of the Apes” movies have remained popular. Their appeal is the opportunity to explore complex characters and social issues within the franchise’s allegorical representation of our world. They’re not escapism, but reflection.

The best “Apes” movies offer insight into ourselves and the world that we’ve created, and so does the latest installment, “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” the 10th in the series, which manages to encompass everything we love about these movies into one sprawling story.

After the franchise ran its course in the 1970s and with the 2001 Tim Burton one-off , screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver nailed a reboot in 2011 with “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.” Directed by Rupert Wyatt, the film featured the story of Caesar, an intelligent ape who leads an uprising, a callback to the 1972 installment “The Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.” Embodied by Andy Serkis in a truly remarkable motion-capture performance and created digitally by the artists at the New Zealand-based Wētā Workshop, the memorable Caesar was beloved by audiences, especially as his story deepened over the course of two sequels, “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” and “War for the Planet of the Apes,” both directed by Matt Reeves.

Now, in a film set hundreds of years after the events of “War,” “Kingdom” feels like both a reboot and a sequel, and an opportunity to set off a new cycle for the 2020s. Director Wes Ball, who previously helmed the surprisingly great “Maze Runner” movies, proves a worthy successor to what Reeves cemented for the franchise, delivering a character-driven story that wrestles with issues of equality, morality and diplomacy, punctuated by intense action sequences.

On this ape planet, the human population has been decimated and rendered dumb by the same virus that made apes intelligent and capable of speech. Our hero is the young Noa, (a terrific Owen Teague), an adolescent ape from the Eagle clan, who live in harmony with nature, training large golden eagles. Noa’s dreams of becoming an eagle master like his father are dashed when his village comes under attack by a gang of masked apes armed with cattle prods. Left for dead, Noa sets off alone in the hope of rescuing his loved ones.

It’s a classic hero’s journey as the young naïf leaves home and learns the harsh truth about the world. He connects with a guide along the way, Raka (Peter Macon, a scene-stealer), a wise orangutan who teaches him the legend of Caesar and a message of unity among apes. When a feral human girl (Freya Allan) tags along, Raka encourages Noa to show her compassion — she’s just a dumb human after all.

The trio achieves a fragile unity based on Caesar’s teachings, but are soon ripped apart after they are captured and taken to the coastal compound of Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), a power-hungry cult leader who has twisted Caesar’s words into violence and manipulation.

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As he proved with “Maze Runner,” Ball has a knack for rendering a kind of stylish, youthful dystopia, and the point of view and aesthetic of “Kingdom” speaks to that. Written by Josh Friedman, this is a story about a young leader shaken from his nest and taught about the way the world works in cruel ways. The sheer scope of the storytelling and the sophisticated world-building is awe-inspiring on the big screen. The remnants of human civilization are overgrown with verdant greenery, presenting our own lost world in a new way. At the chaotic ape colony on the beach, rusting hulks of massive ships loom out of blue waters, contrasting with red sails and white sand. There is beauty among the terror and an element of anxious unpredictability thrashing our characters like the waves that crash against the cliffs.

But the deft spectacle would be nothing without the characters and performances. The film kicks into gear with the introduction of the winning Raka and escalates with Proximus Caesar’s swaggering entrance as a charismatic preacher who has twisted a messiah’s words into hate. But Noa is the heart of the film, his clear green eyes rendered with such emotion by the artisans at Wētā, conveying hope, horror, betrayal and ultimately acceptance.

Ball and Friedman’s ambitious storytelling is a bit overstuffed, offering a plethora of different issues with which to tangle: anti-gun messaging, religious metaphors, questions about our relationship to technology, individual rights. But they set up an exciting world centered around a new ape for us to believe in, at least for this moment.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes'

Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence/action Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes Playing: In wide release Friday, May 10

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Mission Raniganj

Release date: 06 october, 2023, mission raniganj movie.

MISSION RANIGANJ is the story of a man trying to rescue miners against all odds. The year is 1989. Jaswant Singh Gill (Akshay Kumar) is a rescue officer and is based in Raniganj, West Bengal. On November 11, hundreds of miners descend into the mine of Mahabir Coillery at night. ...  An underground blast goes wrong and water starts gushing with powerful force. The miners attempt to escape. Several of them safely make it to the ground. But a group of 65 miners get stuck. The next morning, Jaswant volunteers to rescue the miners. D Sen (Dibyendu Bhattacharya), who is a local contact, however, attempts to take over the rescue operation. He comes up with a plan and tries to save the miners. However, his plan fails. On the other hand, Jaswant finds out the highest point in the underground mine. He then drills a hole at that very place and attempts to establish contact. The miners, too, realize that they need to be at the highest point for better chances of rescue. With great difficulty, they try to reach there but get stuck due to a stoppage wall between them and the highest point. Meanwhile, time is running fast and Jaswant needs to rescue them before they drown or die by inhaling a poisonous gas present in the mine. What happens next forms the rest of the film.

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Review: The simians sizzle, but story fizzles in new 'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes'

The issue of humans and simians in existential conflict arises again in a new “Planet of the Apes,” this time with a coming-of-age sci-fi adventure that’s a piece of visually stunning world-building more thoughtful than coherent.

“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” (★★★ out of four; rated PG-13; in theaters Friday) is a sequel to the stellar “Apes” trilogy led by Andy Serkis’ iconic chimpanzee leader Caesar, set in a landscape where people have gone feral while super-smart apes rule thanks to a man-made virus. Director Wes Ball ( “Maze Runner” ) is a proven commodity in the post-apocalyptic space, and “Kingdom” aims to bring big ideas into a sprawling blockbuster atmosphere, though that gambit winds up weighed down by its own ambitions. 

The new “Apes” is set “many generations later” after the death of Caesar, a kind and compassionate sort who believed humans and apes could one day live together. His specter looms large over “Kingdom,” which centers on a naive young chimp named Noa (played via performance capture by Owen Teague) and an Earth where nature has reclaimed the land. Noa and his friends, Anaya (Travis Jeffery) and Soona (Lydia Peckham), ready for a big day in their lives among the Eagle Clan – so called because of the birds they raise. But the peaceful existence in their village is disrupted by a brutal attack from a horde of masked apes, who burn Noa’s home and leave him for dead.

Noa wakes, battered and vowing to save his friends and family who’ve been taken, and he first falls in with Raka (Peter Macon), a wise orangutan who lives by Caesar’s idealistic beliefs. They meet a young human named Mae (Freya Allan), who’s at first distrustful of her new allies until they save her from the same big bad apes that torched Noa’s village.

The trio learns these villains are goons for the tyrannical bonobo Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand). Ruling a coastal kingdom of apes, Proximus has taken Caesar’s name yet twists his words to force his prisoners to crack a large vault and plumb the mysterious human treasures within. He’s both a fan of mankind and a symbol of our innate cruelty in ape form.

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Just like the previous films, the main draw is the apes themselves, computer-generated simian wonders who immerse audiences into their world. They look better than ever, with Noa’s tearful eyes delivering so much fragility and emotion in a close-up after a tragic scene, and the performance-capture wizardry, a signature aspect of these new "Apes" movies, feels more groundbreaking than ever.

At the same time, none of the major players in "Kingdom" reach the same level of acting or personality as Serkis’ Caesar. That is an extremely high bar, though, and there are some pretty great apes: Teague's Noa grows on you because of his plight while Macon makes Raka a scene-stealing hoot with a kind soul. Allan, a regular on Netflix’s “The Witcher,” also shines in a meaty role as a human who’s more complicated than she appears.

The early “Apes” movies from the ‘60s and '70s were defined by genre innovation and shock endings, and the Caesar movies were simply a great tale well told. “Kingdom” is less confident in its storytelling: It explores themes of legacy and species coexistence with a metaphor-laden plot that feels too long at 2½ hours, and it begs for more exposition at the beginning before overdoing it later on. The movie ultimately does satisfy by its end, even as it emphasizes philosophy and message over logical narrative choices.

“Kingdom” checks most of the boxes for longtime “Apes” fans, and newbies don’t need to any prior homework as a standalone story that mostly explains itself. And as humans, you do commiserate with the onscreen apes themselves, because everything felt a little better back when Caesar was around.

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‘A Prince’ Review: Let New Passions Bloom

Sex, death and domination fuel this beautifully enigmatic pastoral drama from France, which presents the gay coming-of-age of an apprentice gardener.

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By Beatrice Loayza

It’s not immediately apparent how courtly intrigue figures in “A Prince,” Pierre Creton’s spellbinding French pastoral drama, though sex, death and domination hang palpably in the film’s crisp, Normandy air.

Creton, a veteran director working at the margins of France’s film industry, looks to the divine powers and chivalric codes that fuel swords-and-shields epics like “Game of Thrones,” but whittles these elements down to a mysterious essence. A subtly medieval score — distinguished by the thrum of a lute and composed by Jozef van Wissem — draws out a surreal dimension. Eventually, the film shifts into explicitly sexual and mythological terrain with a B.D.S.M. edge, and the score keeps pace, taking on a folk metal vibe.

The story is slippery by design, loosely tracking the gay coming-of-age of an apprentice gardener, Pierre-Joseph, played for the most part by Antoine Pirotte. Creton, who also works as a gardener in real life, plays the older version of Pierre-Joseph, so “A Prince” also reads as an autofictional memory piece.

Throughout the film, a series of wordless and seductively austere tableaux, Pierre- Joseph forms bonds with various individuals in his rural community. Multiple narrators, including Françoise Lebrun (“ The Mother and the Whore ”), speak in retrospect, as if looking back from the afterlife at the characters onscreen. These connections are tangled: for instance, Lebrun voices Françoise Brown (played by Manon Schaap), the head of a horticulture school. Yet Lebrun also plays the onscreen version of Pierre-Joseph’s mother.

The effect may seem frustrating at first, but it ultimately feeds into the kind of alternative, communal lifestyle that the film showcases so beautifully.

Pierre-Joseph eventually comes to form a throuple with Alberto (Vincent Barré) and Adrien (Pierre Barray), his mentors. The naked bodies of these much older gentleman appear suggestively weathered next to their younger lover’s sprightly form. Yet there is no mention of taboo. That passion could bloom in such spontaneous and unexpected forms is part of this enigmatic film’s potency.

A Prince Not rated. In French, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 22 minutes. In theaters.

An earlier version of this review misidentified an instrument used in the score. It was a lute, not a mandolin.

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Andy Serkis, the star of the earlier “Planet of the Apes” movies, and Owen Teague, the new lead, discuss the latest film in the franchise , “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.”

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‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ Review: The Franchise Essentially Reboots with a Tale of Survival Set — At Last — in the Ape-Ruled Future

With Owen Teague as a young ape trapped in a cult kingdom, it may be the first film in the series to connect with the spirit of 'Planet of the Apes.'

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

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“ Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes ” opens with Caesar lying in state, surrounding by a horde of mourning chimps, as his dead body is covered in flowers and ritually set on fire. The movie then cuts to the jungle, where a title informs us that it’s “many generations later.” In other words, the tale we’ve been watching in the last three “Apes” films — “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” (2011), “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” (2014), and “War for the Planet of the Apes” (2017) — is now ancient franchise history. I’m in the minority of viewers who would greet that news by saying, “Thank God.”

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“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is, in effect, a reboot of its own franchise. I’m not sure that the film is going to be any more successful than the previous three installments (or even as successful). It’s essentially a two-and-a-half-hour chimp-in-the-wilderness adventure movie, directed by Wes Ball (the “Maze Runner” films) in the deliberately paced “classical” style of an episodic Hollywood saga from 50 years ago. It doesn’t have a cast of big-name stars. Yet the actors are abetted by the astonishingly organic facial expressions made possible by cutting-edge motion capture, and though the film is too long, I was more than gratified to sink into its relatively old-fashioned dramatic restraint.

Cut loose from his village, Noa meets a wise old orangutan named Raka (Peter Macon), with impish small eyes and a funny way of pursing his lips; he’s a relic who still believes in the teachings of Caesar. Noa also meets a human wild child (Freya Allan) who’s less innocent than she looks. As Noa, the gifted actor Owen Teague makes his presence felt. He displays not just cleverness and nobility but raw fear, an exciting quality to see in a hero.

The three characters team up, but Noa is eventually dragged to the ape kingdom, presided over by a fearsome cult leader named Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), who has stolen the authority — but not the morality — of his namesake. Proximus takes a special interest in Noa, who is essentially a prison-camp inmate, reunited with his mother and friends, who must defeat the empire from within. Here and there, we’re shown signs of the human civilization that’s been destroyed: the carcasses of buildings, escalators, and elevated train tracks, overgrown with shrubbery. Yet human technology is still the holy grail. The ape kingdom is built around a silo, with a closed vault of a door, that contains many wonders within (like weapons). That vault is Pandora’s Box, and Proximus wants to unlock it so desperately that he’ll sacrifice a handful of his apes every day to electroshock the door open.

Kevin Durand’s performance as Proximus, the leering bonobo monarch, is a piece of insinuating theater — he’s a leader who’s made the mistake of thinking everything is about him. And the rest of the cast makes its mark, from Sarah Wiseman as Noa’s heartstrong mother to Peter Macon as the whimsical seen-it-all Raka to William H. Macy as a scavenger who has carved out a place for himself in the ape kingdom like Dennis Hopper’s photographer in “Apocalypse Now.” “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” invites us to embrace the drama of apes fighting apes. By the end, though, in what is in effect a teaser for the next sequel, it looks as if the franchise’s blowhard version of the human race will be back after all. That could be enough to make you want to escape from the planet of the apes.

Reviewed at AMC 34th St., New York, May 7, 2024. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 145 MIN.

• Production: A 20th Century Studios release of a Jason T. Reed Productions, Oddball Entertainment production. Producers: Wes Ball, Joe Hartwick, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Jason Reed. Executive producers: Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping.
• Crew: Director: Wes Ball. Screenplay: Josh Friedman, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Patrick Aison. Camera: Gyula Pados. Editor: Dan Zimmerman. Music: John Paesano.
• With: Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, William H. Macy, Travis Jeffery, Lydia Peckham, Neil Sandilands.

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Movie Review: ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ finds a new hero and will blow your mind

This image released by 20th Century Studios shows Noa, played by Owen Teague, in a scene from “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.” (20th Century Studios via AP)

This image released by 20th Century Studios shows Proximus Caesar, played by Kevin Durand, in a scene from “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.” (20th Century Studios via AP)

This image released by 20th Century Studios shows Raka, played by Peter Macon, in a scene from “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.” (20th Century Studios via AP)

This image released by 20th Century Studios shows a scene from “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.” (20th Century Studios via AP)

This image released by 20th Century Studios shows Soona, played by Lydia Peckham, left and Noa, played by Owen Teague, in a scene from “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.” (20th Century Studios via AP)

This image released by 20th Century Studios shows Noa, played by Owen Teague, from left, Freya Allan as Nova, and Raka, played by Peter Macon, in a scene from “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.” (20th Century Studios via AP)

This image released by 20th Century Studios shows Freya Allan in a scene from “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.” (20th Century Studios via AP)

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Fans of the “Planet of the Apes” franchise may still be mourning the 2017 death of Caesar, the first smart chimp and the charismatic ape leader. Not to worry: He haunts the next episode, the thrilling, visually stunning “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.”

We actually start with Caesar’s funeral, his body decorated with flowers and then set alight like a Viking, before fast-forwarding “many generations later.” All apes talk now and most humans don’t, reduced to caveman loin cloths and running wide-eyed and scared, evolution in reverse.

Our new hero is the young ape Noa (Owen Teague ) who is like all young adult chimps — seeking his father’s approval (even chimp dads just don’t understand) and testing his bravery. He is part of a clan that raises pet eagles, smokes fish and lives peacefully.

That all changes when his village is attacked not by humans but by fellow apes — masked soldiers from a nasty kingdom led by the crown-wearing Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand, playing it to the hilt). He has taken Caesar’s name but twisted his words to become a tyrannical strongman — sorry, strongape.

Unlike the last movie which dealt with man’s inhumanity to animals — concentration camps included — ape-on-ape violence is in the cards for this one, including capturing an entire clan as prisoners. Proximus Caesar’s goons use makeshift cattle prods on fellow apes and force them to work while declaring “For Caesar!”

Screenwriter Josh Friedman has cleverly created a movie that examines how ancient stories can be hijacked and manipulated, like how Caesar’s non-violent message gets twisted by bad actors. There’s also a lot of “Avatar” primitive naivete, and that makes sense since the reboot was shaped by several of that blue alien movie’s makers.

The movie poses some uncomfortable questions about collaborationists. William H. Macy plays a human who has become a sort of teacher-prisoner to Proximus Caesar — reading Kurt Vonnegut to him — and won’t fight back. “It is already their world,” he rationalizes.

Along for the heroic ride is a human young woman (Freya Allan, a budding star) who is hiding an agenda but offers Noa help along the way. Peter Macon plays a kindly, book-loving orangutan who adds a jolt of gleeful electricity to the movie and is missed when he goes.

The effects are just jaw-dropping, from the ability to see individual hairs on the back of a monkey to the way leaves fall and the crack of tree limbs echoing in the forest. The sight of apes on horseback, which seemed glitchy just seven years ago, are now seamless. There are also inside jokes, like the use of the name Nova again this time.

Director Wes Ball nicely handles all the thrilling sequences — though the two-and-a-half hour runtime is somewhat taxing — and some really cool ones, like the sight of apes on horseback on a beach, a nod to the original 1968 movie. And like when the apes look through some old illustrated kids’ books and see themselves depicted in zoo cages. That makes for some awkward human-ape interaction. “What is next for apes? Should we go back to silence?” our hero asks.

The movie races to a complex face-off between good and bad apes and good and bad humans outside a hulking silo that holds promise to each group. Can apes and humans live in peace, as Caesar hoped? “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” doesn’t answer that but it does open up plenty more to ponder. Starting with the potentially crippling proposition of a key death, this franchise has somehow found new vibrancy.

“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” a 20th Century Studios release that is exclusively in theaters May 10, is rated PG-13 for “intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action.” Running time: 145 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.

MPAA Definition of PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Online: https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/kingdom-of-the-planet-of-the-apes

Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits