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Colorful, futuristic sets, a relentless pace and an action-packed climax highlight the fourth episode of the legendary Apes saga, starring Roddy McDowall and Ricardo Montalban. The time is the near future. Apes have supplanted dogs and cats as household pets, and replaced servants as personal assistants - until their continual mistreatment provokes one advanced ape from the future, Caesar (McDowall), to lead a spectacular revolt. It's thrilling science fiction that offers both a serious message and stirring entertainment.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is the fourth in a series of five films, and this is where it all begins...
In the third film (Escape from the Planet of the Apes) Cornelius travels back in time with his pregnant chimp-wife Zira. After giving birth they are ordered to be executed ...but their son survived.
This film sees the Circus owner Armando attempt to hide the intelligent talking ape (played by Roddy McDowell once again, and the likeness to his father Cornelius is made in the film) but is arrested. This is a time of slavery, with humans owning apes to carry out domestic chores and manual labour. Governor Breck is nervous after the revelation 20 years previous that the future of humanity is one of slavery under the rule of the apes and so the possibility that an ape in the city could be the son of Cornelius is one which must be investigated ...and the ape killed.
The slavery of apes and the fear of being enslaved by them in the future drives Breck to take an interest in an unusually intelligent ape he suspects might be the `talking ape' - after being allowed to follow a quaint Breck family tradition of selecting a name from a book, the ape `randomly' selects Caesar. He is dismissed as another stupid ape and ownership transfers to Aide MacDonald - a black senior. Parallels are drawn to the human trade of black slaves and there is level of empathy from MacDonald.
This film sets in motion the ape led revolution which is developed further in the fifth film, and sets up the first (confused?!). The politics behind the film is what makes it. Slavery and inhumanity are strong themes throughout the Planet of the Apes quintology. The great thing about this film though is that it doesn't polarise people into `good' or `bad' camps. The plight of the humans is expressed when the unemployed engage in protests at the loss of jobs to apes, Caesar the hero of the film seems torn between revenge and idealistic revolution, even the ape-despising Breck who sanctions torture is shown to be vulnerable owing to his fear of losing dominance to the apes. Which party is right? Is it less wrong for one group to enslave the other?
The stirring speech given by Caesar at the end of the film is one of the best moments in the "Planet..." series of films. The film certainly gets you to think, and the points raised have never subdued in their relevance since the films release in '72. I can see that to a non-fan this would maybe only merit three stars, but as a fan I have given this four stars.
In the third film (Escape from the Planet of the Apes) Cornelius travels back in time with his pregnant chimp-wife Zira. After giving birth they are ordered to be executed ...but their son survived.
This film sees the Circus owner Armando attempt to hide the intelligent talking ape (played by Roddy McDowell once again, and the likeness to his father Cornelius is made in the film) but is arrested. This is a time of slavery, with humans owning apes to carry out domestic chores and manual labour. Governor Breck is nervous after the revelation 20 years previous that the future of humanity is one of slavery under the rule of the apes and so the possibility that an ape in the city could be the son of Cornelius is one which must be investigated ...and the ape killed.
The slavery of apes and the fear of being enslaved by them in the future drives Breck to take an interest in an unusually intelligent ape he suspects might be the `talking ape' - after being allowed to follow a quaint Breck family tradition of selecting a name from a book, the ape `randomly' selects Caesar. He is dismissed as another stupid ape and ownership transfers to Aide MacDonald - a black senior. Parallels are drawn to the human trade of black slaves and there is level of empathy from MacDonald.
This film sets in motion the ape led revolution which is developed further in the fifth film, and sets up the first (confused?!). The politics behind the film is what makes it. Slavery and inhumanity are strong themes throughout the Planet of the Apes quintology. The great thing about this film though is that it doesn't polarise people into `good' or `bad' camps. The plight of the humans is expressed when the unemployed engage in protests at the loss of jobs to apes, Caesar the hero of the film seems torn between revenge and idealistic revolution, even the ape-despising Breck who sanctions torture is shown to be vulnerable owing to his fear of losing dominance to the apes. Which party is right? Is it less wrong for one group to enslave the other?
The stirring speech given by Caesar at the end of the film is one of the best moments in the "Planet..." series of films. The film certainly gets you to think, and the points raised have never subdued in their relevance since the films release in '72. I can see that to a non-fan this would maybe only merit three stars, but as a fan I have given this four stars.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
"Conquest Of..." seems to be maligned as one of the weakest in the Planet Of The Apes series, but actually after the almost rom-com style of "Escape From..." this film is a welcome return to the action adventure and confrontational nature- and, importantly, lots of apes- that were seen in the first two films.
It's another prequel, which picks up from "Escape From..." the story about how apes took over the planet. You should watch all the Apes films in order, otherwise they'll make very limited sense. It's set in 1991, which in 1972 probably seemed a long way in the future. In parts it's very much a film about 1972- the racism theme is handled with no subtlety at all, and the background science fiction elements, such as the technology being used in the civilisation, isn't really an attempt at science fiction at all- at one point when a filing clerk has to urgently check a record, we see him grabbing a Filofax style book and flicking through it to the right page. Didn't they think there might have been a computer or two by 1991?
The make-up is stunning and there are excellent performances from, among others, Roddy McDowall and Ricardo Montalban.
However the lack of budget begins to show in places. Almost the entire film seems to be set in one large modernist shopping plaza, and the same pieces of scenery crop up repeatedly through the film.
Two endings exist for this film- an original and much darker ending, and the eventual cinema ending which is very much softer. Only one ending appears on this DVD, and that's the "soft" ending, which very much looks like an afterthought to the rest of the movie. There's a Blu-Ray edition of this film which also includes the original ending, so big Apes fans should save their money for that.
It's another prequel, which picks up from "Escape From..." the story about how apes took over the planet. You should watch all the Apes films in order, otherwise they'll make very limited sense. It's set in 1991, which in 1972 probably seemed a long way in the future. In parts it's very much a film about 1972- the racism theme is handled with no subtlety at all, and the background science fiction elements, such as the technology being used in the civilisation, isn't really an attempt at science fiction at all- at one point when a filing clerk has to urgently check a record, we see him grabbing a Filofax style book and flicking through it to the right page. Didn't they think there might have been a computer or two by 1991?
The make-up is stunning and there are excellent performances from, among others, Roddy McDowall and Ricardo Montalban.
However the lack of budget begins to show in places. Almost the entire film seems to be set in one large modernist shopping plaza, and the same pieces of scenery crop up repeatedly through the film.
Two endings exist for this film- an original and much darker ending, and the eventual cinema ending which is very much softer. Only one ending appears on this DVD, and that's the "soft" ending, which very much looks like an afterthought to the rest of the movie. There's a Blu-Ray edition of this film which also includes the original ending, so big Apes fans should save their money for that.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The Planet of the Apes series is a sad example of how sequels are often not as good as the original. I loved Planet of the Apes and Escape from Planet of The Apes when I first saw them. I then saw the other films, but none of them quite reached the standard of those two.
Don't get me wrong, Conquest is not a bad film. If I could, I would have given it three and a half stars. It is quite entertaining and well paced enough to make it worth while: it's just that the lack of budget shows throughout. The sets and makeup are fair, but not as good as the first film; the acting is ok and the secenes of the apes revolting and taking over is poorly done. Given a bit more time, money and thought it may even have been better than "Escape" which in my opinion is the best sequel.
Watch it if you've seen the first three films, just bear in mind the things ive mentioned. at least it's better than the awful Beneath the Planet of the Apes.
Planet of The Apes *****
Beneath The Planet of The Apes *
Escape From Planet of The Apes *****
Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes ***1/2
Battle For The Plnat of The Apes ***
Nuff said
Don't get me wrong, Conquest is not a bad film. If I could, I would have given it three and a half stars. It is quite entertaining and well paced enough to make it worth while: it's just that the lack of budget shows throughout. The sets and makeup are fair, but not as good as the first film; the acting is ok and the secenes of the apes revolting and taking over is poorly done. Given a bit more time, money and thought it may even have been better than "Escape" which in my opinion is the best sequel.
Watch it if you've seen the first three films, just bear in mind the things ive mentioned. at least it's better than the awful Beneath the Planet of the Apes.
Planet of The Apes *****
Beneath The Planet of The Apes *
Escape From Planet of The Apes *****
Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes ***1/2
Battle For The Plnat of The Apes ***
Nuff said
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