Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) (Movie Review)

   When it comes to long running film franchises, the sequels are usually spread out over a couple of years. But in the case of the “Planet of the Apes” series, there was a sequel released every single year, back to back. This began in 1970 with the release of the second film “Beneath the Planet of the Apes”, and the sequels followed one right after the other until the series ended in 1973. This has to be the most rushed film series of all time and when you rush your movie sequels like this, you usually end up with lesser movies that don’t feel complete and it isn’t any more apparent than in the fifth and final installment in the original Ape series line up titled “Battle for the Planet of the Apes”.

      This film is often labeled as the weakest entry of the series but let’s see if that’s a fare statement. The movie begins with a recap of the events from both “Escape from the Planet of the Apes” and “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes”, laying down all the important plot points that lead to the events in this film. After the ape Caesar lead the ape slaves in a revolution against their human oppressors, they retaliated with a nuclear strike that’s leveled all major cities on the planet. Twelve years have passed and now North America is a post-nuclear society. Caesar has now established his own small society of apes and humans that are coexisting together but the humans are regarded as second class. The setting is now in the woods as opposed to all the rock settings that the apes inhabited in the earlier installments, however their wearing their custom clothing again. Chimpanzees are in green, Orangutans are Orange and Gorilla’s are purple again.

      Well, Caesar is feeling large and in charge, however, there’s a group of humans that still live in the fallen cities and are suffering from radiation poisoning. As you’d expect, their sick of living in ruins and have decided that it’s time to launch an attack on the apes to reclaim the planet as their own and if they fail, they’ll activate the doomsday bomb and begin the cycle all over again. The leader is another cartoony villain, this time with an appearance to match, he wears a big black coat and has bright red goggles to make him stand out. As if Caesar didn’t have enough problems on his hands, there’s also a gorilla general that plans to dethrone him, halt any chance of peace between apes and humans and then have every human on the planet executed. This Gorilla general is the hammiest and most over the top villain to appear in any of these movies, he lacks menace and the performance in nothing short of silly. Any way, we now have three parties ready to wage war in order to claim ruler ship of planet earth, or at least North America.

     Once again, this sounds like a really cool setup with a lot more going on and a lot at stake, what can go wrong with this film? Well the problem once again just comes in the overall presentation, everything feels rushed, the editing can get really messy and annoying at times, the constant camera zooms and close-ups are especially annoying and the performances all feel tired, like none of the actors are invested in this. There’s a lot of things going on in the plot but very little is happening on screen, and it’s just so hard to get invested in these characters in any appreciable or emotional way. Roddy McDowall is back in the role of Caesar, making this his fourth time appearing in a “Planet of the Apes” movie. However, his performance is very hollow. The character Caesar is supposed to be this great ruler, who demands leadership, respect and fights for peace between warring spices but you never feel anything that strong, noble or commanding about him. He doesn’t do or say anything that demands authority, he just suggests things in a causal and boring tone. Not much to say about the other characters in the film, there’s a new orangutan character called Virgil who’s supposed to be Caesar’s best friend and confidant but he doesn’t amount to much either.

      Whenever the movie has potential to be either interesting or emotional, it’s all pushed aside for action or more obstacles with the cartoony villains. There’s a subplot involving Caesar investigating the ruined city for video and audio recordings of his parents Cornelius and Zira to learn about the future of the world and avoid making the same mistakes his ancestors made that led to the inevitable destruction of the planet. Wow, this could be an interesting predicament, what does one do with such knowledge, how does one move forward to make a better life with such a terrifying truth revealed. Plus there’s a moment when Caesar states that this is an important moment for him to finally look upon the faces of his parents whom he’s never met. This could have led to a really emotional and powerful scene but it’s all brushed aside so quickly that the film actually seems to forget that either of these two plot points where ever brought up in the film. As the title would lead you to believe, the movie ends with a great big battle for dominance of the planet. It’s nothing jaw-dropping or impressive but there’s at least enough gun fire, explosions and battle vehicles to keep it mildly entertaining. I suppose it’s slightly cool because there’s never been any big scale action scenes in any of the previous films but that also serves as a reminder as to why most of them were better.

     In the end, peace is established between humans and apes but the way this comes to be is ridiculous. Also, unlike all the other films, this one is told through flashback. Over 600 years, man and apes have lived together in peace and a character called the lawgiver is relaying this story to a group of children as the legend of Caesar, the great ape who brought peace between our two spices. Too bad we don’t see much of the joined cultures, what they’ve built and the great society they’ve achieved, in fact the only things we see in this epilog is a small group of ape and human children standing together and looking bored. We do at least get one good line when one of the kids asks “Who knows the future?” to which the Lawgiver responds by saying, “Perhaps, only the dead”. Then the movie ends on what has got to be the strangest moment of the entire series. We get a close up of a statue of Caesar and a single tear drop falling from one eye. What the heck is that all about? This isn’t a vision or a dream interpreted by another character, no, this statue is really crying, despite the fact that it’s not a living creature and has no emotional barring. I honestly don’t know what else I can say about that, I think it speaks for itself.

      Overall, I don’t think “Battle for the Planet of the Apes” is the worst movie sequel ever made, I don’t even think it’s the worst of the series, it just isn’t that good. The plot and elements in the story could have been something really exciting but it all feels generic and rushed, almost like the filmmakers just wanted to hurry up and finish this series. It just needed more time to tell a more meaningful story and certainly could have benefited from stronger performances. I’ll at least give this cast a small bit of credit, it must have been really difficult to act in very heavy and hot ape makeup in extremely warm locations like the ones featured in the film, but I’ve also seen some really impressive performances come from actors in even harder situations. It’s not a great conclusion to a long running franchise but I’ve certainly seen worse, so I’ll just sum this film up as mediocre entertainment at best.

I give “Battle for the Planet of the Apes” 2 stars out of five.  

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) (Movie Review)

       Now we come to the forth entry in the long running "Planet of the Apes" series, the 1972 sequel titled “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes”. I must confess, of all eight installments in the series, this one is my least favorite, not just because it’s bad (which it certainly is) but also because it’s just so unpleasant and such a waste of time.   

      The plot goes like this, it’s been almost twenty years sense the events of “Escape from the Planet of the Apes” and some strange virus has killed of all dogs and cats on the planet. Now humans have resorted to taking in apes as pets, which then lead to them being turned into slaves. Now Twentieth Century Americans act like Nazi’s from 1940’s Germany, and apes are the pore victims. Meanwhile, the circus trainer Armando (played again by Ricardo Montalban) has raised the ape child named Caesar that was born from Cornelius and Zira, who both died at the end of the last film. Once Caesar see’s humanity’s disgusting underbelly and harsh way’s, he becomes convinced that humanity is evil, so he rallies all the ape slaves together in one big revolution against the human oppressors.   

     Now by that plot description, you’d probably think that this movie sounds really awesome, it’s a darker story and a big turning point in the series as we see firsthand how the apes overthrow the humans. However, while the premise sounds exciting, the writers don’t build a story around it, or at the very least, not a very good story. I’m not going to lie, there’s hardly anything going on in this film, most of what we see in this movie are apes getting tortured, apes getting poorly mistreated, humans acting like complete idiots and painfully long, drawn out scenes of characters in silly gorilla costumes walking around silly sets. It just gives you this very empty feeling, like you’re not gaining anything from watching this. There’s no thought provoking questions and the way the film depicts our culture is absurd. Everything is just so damn narrow sighted, humans are officially evil and apes are officially victims, no debate on who’s in the wrong, no care about humanity even though there trampled underfoot in the end and in a film like this, you should absolutely care about the humans in some general way. 

     The characters in this film are nothing special, the lead ape Caesar is a complete bore. Nothing about him holds your attention and his mannerism at times can get over exaggerated, while other times, he’s just dull as a rock. Ricardo Montalba’s character Armando is the only one you care for, however he’s shamefully executed and doesn’t offer anything useful in the grand scheme of things. Remember in my last review, how I appreciated how realistic and down to earth the villain was, well, this is the complete opposite. The villain in this movie is an over the top, stereotype bad guy who might just have the stupidest motivations I’ve ever heard. He claims that he and the rest of humanity deliberately treat apes badly because apes represent the darkest side of human evolution. Well if that’s the case, then why is humanity acting so much more savage and cruel against them, plus, if apes represent our most savage form of evolution, why turn them into slaves, that’ll only provoke them in hating humanity even more.

     The movie doesn’t gain any momentum until the very end, when all the apes get lose and start an uprising. But even this is only mildly exciting because the action is nothing special, just a bunch of silly costumed characters running around, making annoying sounds and pushing other people over. It actually gets boring after a while, the music gets especially annoying and the camera work comes off as a random mess at times. The movie ends with Caesar giving this really big speech about how his people will begin birth of the planet of the apes. This should have been the big highlight of the film and while the speech itself is good, the delivery is boring, bland and not all that engaging.

    Overall, I just feel like there’s nothing worthwhile about this film, it moves at a slow pass, it has a very joyless overtone and a very empty plot. Hard core “Planet of the Apes” fans may appreciate it more and may even consider it to be one of the most intense and tragic in the series. I’ll admit that at the very least it progresses the story in a way that’s true to the source material but the film overall just doesn’t do anything for me. 

I give “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes” 1 ½ stars.

Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) (Movie Review)

   Time to journey back to the Planet of the Apes ... well, sort of. When it comes to the four sequels that are directly related to the original classic, the 1971 sequel titled “Escape from the Planet of the Apes” is easily the best and my personal favorite of the first five classic “Planet of the Apes” movies. Now you’re probably wondering how they could possibly continue the story after the events of “Beneath the Planet of the Apes”, considering that we saw Taylor activate the dooms day bomb that destroyed the entire planet. Well, the explanation isn’t entirely convincing but it works just enough to progress the story. Basically, the two hero apes from the first movie, Cornelius and Zira found Taylors downed spaceship, used it to escape the planet before it was destroyed and where then sent through a black hole that sent them back in time to the mid 1970’s. I’d certainly like to know how they found Taylor’s ship after it sunk to the bottom of the sea or how they learned to pilot it, but honestly those little details don’t matter because the following story is excellent.

     Now Cornelius and Zira have found themselves in the exact same situation that Taylor was in from the first film, with humans being the dominate species on the planet and apes are inferior. However there not treated with hostility right away, in fact society welcomes them with open arms. They almost become like celebrates, people give them fine clothes, a good place to live and even give them official tours of their world. They make especially strong friendships with two human scientists named Dr. Lewis Dixon and Stephanie Branton, who become their closest alies and help the apes find their place in the world. All seems to be going just fine but you know deep down that it’s not going to last.

    Their house of cards start crumbling when they get the attention of the President’s Science Advisor named Dr. Otto Hasslein, who learns that Zira is pregnant. Fearing for the future of the human race, he drugs Zira with some kind of truth serum that forces her to reveal all secrets that the two of them have been holding back from everyone else. Secrets like the inevitable destruction of the planet, what really became of Taylor, how the apes treated other humans, etc. It’s enough to allow Dr. Otto to confine both apes in prison and he’s also given the right to abort Zira’s baby. Our two doctors aren’t about to allow this, so they help Zira and Cornelius escape, and help them to find their way, now that their fugitives on the run. You could easily right Dr. Otto off as the villain of this film, he’s certainly fits the role of the jerk that gets his comeuppance, but his actions aren’t entirely evil, he’s just paranoid about the future and it’s forcing him to take drastic measures.  
  

    The overall plot may seem like a cut and pace of the first movie but there's just enough smart twists and turns that make it stand out, and honestly this story makes changes that are far more interesting and more character driven. I especially love the concepts, themes and honest moral questions that this movie asks. With the arrival of the apes, humanity is now aware of their inevitable fate, the dominates of ape kind and the destruction of the planet. All it takes to stop this from every happening is for the humans to kill three innocent characters. This raises one of the most important questions ever established. Is it right to take the lives of just a small few innocent and defenseless lives to save the lives of millions? There’s a scene in the film where Dr. Otto and the president have an excellent conversation on this topic. The president even uses this as a metaphor, “If I went back in time before The Holocaust, would I have the right to murder Adolf Hitler when he was just a defenseless child, or would that action make me no better than he was.” Its statements, questions and concepts like this that give the movie a heart and it just makes you care more for the outcome.

    I’ve always liked the characters Zira and Cornelius and in this film it’s very easy to care about them as they go on their journey. You want them to find sanctuary, you want them to be accepted and when they get pursued by the government, you really want to see them escape. It’s also very interesting to see them going through what Taylor experienced in the first film and it gives these characters the chance to peer through the looking glass and see what kind of monsters they were like to humans. They also make friends with a circus owner played by the always fantastic Ricardo Montalbán, who has some of the best and most touching lines of dialog in this film.

    One plot point established in this film that will become a key part of the series is that while humans may harm other humans, apes will not harm other apes. This statement honestly doesn’t make much sense considering that we see a gorilla strangle a chimpanzee to death in the opening of the film, but I’ll let that little plot whole slide for now. Everything leads to an exciting climax with both apes trapped in a ship yard as the authorities come down to assassinate them. However, Zira apparently had her baby and left him in the hands of the circus owner, which will set the stage for the rest of the series.

   “Escape from the Planet of the Apes” is a very underappreciated sequel in my opinion, critics seem to like it just fine, but it’s never been acknowledged as a truly great sequel that might be superior to the original. Sure, it’s not a land mark film but it is still a very good sequel that dissevers more recognition. The plot manages to stay exciting while giving use a story that’s more character driven and on some small level, it’s genuinely touching. For all this and all the themes and deeper concepts that the film establishes, and I honestly think it’s better than the original. 

I give “Escape from the Planet of the Apes” 4 stars.   
           

Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) (Movie Review)

  The 1968 classic “Planet of the Apes” was a rare Sci-Fi hit for its time, and one of the very first to start a long running franchise, one that’s still going strong today. It’s amazing the series lasted as long as it did because the very first sequel in 1970 titled “Beneath the Planet of the Apes” was not one of the best. This is one of those sequels that aims to progress the story further but doesn’t have much momentum going for it. While I wouldn’t call this one of the absolute worst sequels ever made, it’s certainly the strangest of the ape franchise, and doesn’t hold-up for repeat viewings.

 The movie begins right where the first film left off, with Taylor and his mute girlfriend Nova riding off into the unknown desert of the ape planet. Shortly after discovering the Statue of Liberty in ruins, Taylor disappears into thin air, leaving Nova alone. She later crosses paths with another stranded astronaut named Brent, whose spaceship recently crashed. Once again, they both get captured by the apes, and the same two chimpanzees from the first movie, Zira and Cornelius, help them escape. Their chased back into the forbidden zone of the planet and discover an underground world, where a group of mutated humans with psychic powers are worshiping a “Dooms Day Bomb” like it’s God. Meanwhile, the antagonistic orangutan from the first film, Dr. Zaius, has joined forces with a Gorilla general, who’s obsessed with killing off all humans, and launches a campaign to see them wiped out.

 The problems with this film are obvious, as the first half is a soft retread of everything we saw in the first film, and then the second half takes a nosedive into very odd territory with the mutant characters, who feel like they belong in a different franchise all together. This film is also far sillier than its predecessor, with hammy performances, and goofy scenes, like this moment with apes hanging out in a sweat shop. 

Then when the movie isn’t silly, it’s just really strange for the sake of having odd moments. One scene when the apes have a vision of a statue of their ape God set to flames and bleeding. Yes, a statue of an ape God is bleeding, and this is only one of several unexplained odd moments in the film. Most of the main characters from the first movie are reduced to smaller, thankless roles, with these new characters leaving much to be desired. Charlton Heston makes barely more than a cameo in his role as Taylor and our two leading chimpanzees Zira and Cornelius have very little to do in the narrative. Even Dr. Zaius, who was an intriguing antagonist in the first film, now takes a back seat to this evil Gorilla general, who’s just a little too hammy and over the top.

  The real problem with this film is the whole plot line with the mutants and their underground world. At first, it’s kind of cool, as we see some awesome dystopian set pieces, and the tone is suitably eerie. Unfortunately, the mutant characters are just so odd and underdeveloped in both goal and backstory, and the film struggles to do anything with them as a narrative presence. The movie even pads out it’s runtime with a sequence of these people holding a mass for their “Dooms Day Bomb” … I’m not kidding, we see their full, boring mass for an atom bomb. At this point, the film loses all identity as a “Planet of the Apes” movie, and our titular apes are kept off screen for a while. 

  When the apes finally do return to the film, we segue into a disappointing finale. Basically, the apes lay siege to the underground world, kill off all the lead characters, and Taylor sets off the bomb, destroying the entire planet. It’s an ending that leaves me feeling empty and asking … what was the point of that movie? It moves the story forward a little bit, with new content, but then it just pulls the plug on itself. We don’t learn more about the characters, we don’t learn that much more about the planet, and what we do discover isn’t very interesting.

  Of all the entries in the ape franchise, I have the least feelings for this one … I don’t hate the film, it just does leave any kind of impression on me. Some of the underground sets look good, but the narrative isn’t engaging, the characters aren’t compelling, and it’s just a little too wired for its own good. If you’re a hard core “Planet of the Apes” fan and want to see every movie, then this film won’t bother you too much. If you’d rather just watch a good movie, then stick with the original or one of the new reboot films instead.

Thanks for reading my review of the 1970 sequel “Beneath the Planet of the Apes” … and continue to enjoy the movies you Love!