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Loosely adapted from the novel by French author Pierre Boulle, Planet of the Apes was released at the height of racial and political unrest in America, adding resonance to its story of a NASA astronaut (Charlton Heston) stranded on a planet where superior apes dominate inferior human slaves. The film's final image--in which a horrified Heston realizes the fate of humankind--remains one of the most indelible in all of science fiction cinema.
Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) continues the original's distant future scenario, pitting militant apes against mutant humans dwelling in the subterranean ruins of New York City. Its phenomenal success spawned Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), in which simian scientists Cornelius and Zira (Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter, reprising their roles from Planet) travel backward in time, setting the stage for the ape supremacy of the first two films. McDowall returned in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) as Caesar, the son of Cornelius, leading an ape revolution that bridges the historical gap of the previous films. Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) ended the five-film cycle with McDowall again playing the chimpanzee leader Caesar, defeating gorillas and human mutants to establish the hierarchy introduced in the original film.
The Apes films present a classic what-if scenario that hasn't lost a bit of its potency. As if to prove its cultural endurance, the cycle returned to its origins with director Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes--one of the most eagerly awaited films of 2001. --Jeff Shannon
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The whole timeline of Planet Of The Apes is circular, so in practice this means that the events in this film happen after films 3 and 4, but before films 1 and 2. It's a clever science fiction loop, but perhaps one that would work better as a novel than as the premise for a film, especially because you already know how events are going to unfold, more or less (although there are some interesting "can the history be re-written?" questions that could have been more emphasised).
Weak points in this film: the much lower budget is very evident, it feels once again more like a TV movie with unusually good costumes rather than a full-budget feature film. The actor Severn Darden is basically in the wrong film, playing a cringeworthy camp pantomime villain who doesn't really advance the plot in any way.
Overall it does stand up as a film, and if you've got this far with Planet Of The Apes, you might as well finish it off.
Nuclear war has devested the planet just after the fourth film 'Conquest of the Planet of the Apes' and Caesar leads a small community of apes and humans. He discovers that recordings of his dead parents Cornelius and Zira should lay in the forbidden city, destroyed by the war. However, living in the city are radiated humans, who see Caesar's visit as an act of war and retaliate, leaving Caesar to fight a war on two fronts, the other at home!!!
Although the weakest of the five original films, it's still great entertainment. The wonderfully comic script-writing in the armament scene with Mandemus is worthy of note.
It has many flaws though; the budget was the lowest of the five original films and it shows; there's not much breadth or scope to the later invasion scenes amongst others. At times the script can be a little pretentious. The post-apocalyptic weather and the fact that the forbidden city just suddenly rises out of the desert is a little unrealistic. You may also ask yourself why haven't the radiated humans left the forbidden city sooner for greener pastures while it doesn't seem a coincidence that just when Governor Kolp of the forbidden city announces his boredom of the status quo, Caesar arrives!
The budget for this movie was clearly much less than the first two films. This and the lack of an original story are probably the main reasons for its failure. The 'battle' for the planet, it turns out takes place in a moderately sized field between a few dozen humans and a few dozen apes.
In itself the acting was OK but in places the script did nobody any favours and I struggled to retain any sort of interest after the first 1/2 hour. Fortunately it is only a short film (83mins) so if you do decide to buy it your suffering will be mercifully short.
I'd recommend buying the boxed set which contains all the films and an excellent documentary. This represents far better value for money.
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