I remember the advertisement of the Planet of the Apes movies on DVD, it felt so epic and I remembered the stories my mom tod me about these movies that she saw when she was a kid. Luckily there was a late night marathon one weekend and I caught all 5 original movies until they finished at dawn..but I had done it. I had wathched the entirety of the Planet of the Apes franchise and I loved it. I was probably too tired for the last one but I still treaded through it. It had been a long time since that happened so it was time to revisit this world and see how well it held up. All 5 original movies have a certain feeling, they feel like extended twilight zone episodes about one specific topic. Even after this rewatch I can say they are great movies, even if they are not all the same quality.
Planet of the Apes 1968
There’s something very special about this movie, it’s like a high buget well acted B movie. An absolute classic and I absolutely love it. It flows well and still feels relevant today. It is ostensibly the best scifi movie from that era. The characters are all likeable, whether human or ape. The effects hold up rather well, yeah you can tell they’re costumes but well done costumes and the whole human esque ape costume actually works in its favor giving it an eerie appearance. You can feel the despair an overall a true classic an easily the best Planet of the Apes movie and it’ll likely never be topped. It’s something I feel anyone can watch if they ever want to check out a goo sci-fi movie, they don’t need to watch anything else.
Beneath the Planet of the Apes
The first half of the movie or the most part feels like a remix of the original movie, since they set up a new character, only this time it’s not as interesting even if they do things a bit different. It really takes off in the more original parts with the whole finding the remaining humans who are now mutants. The whole thing is definitely off the wall but in a good way. It’s no longer the serious story it was but it’s just as engaging. They worked with their limits and it gave us an ending that is shocking enough to match the first. It’s not a strong movie but it has enough to make it a decent sequel.
Escape from the Planet of the Apes
This is such a fun movie, the Apes go back in time and reach the 70s, enjoy life and it seems like a rather lighter movie than the other ones. It’s certainly different but boy does it take a dark spin in the end. The movie does move the story forward and sets up a nice time loop. Some might be put off by the whole apes in the “modern” world at the time and it’s certainly interesting to see how the 70s were when they were the “modern” times. The dark turn the movie takes just wraps what I think is a good movie into a really good one.
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
This movie definitely feels very 70s and that’s what I like about it, this retro futuristic take is so claustrophobic and gives a really messed up future look that works in a gritty way. I like seeing how the war between apes and humans starts by making a nice looped time line. Unsure if the original ending of the Apes not holding peace would’ve been better but them saving worked as well with the “No” line. I can be a fan of either ending and both feel appropriate for the Apes franchise. Even if it perhaps isn’t a looped timeline because of it.
Battle for the Planet of the Apes
This one feels a bit unecessary, it’s just a story of humans and apes not getting along in this new life, confirming it is a new timeline. Yeah the conflict between the humans, and apes an those in between is interesting to see but the stakes feel smaller after the last movies and it’s not necessarily doing anything new here either. Ater so many hours of Apes, it’s hard to care about this one. It would work better as a side story you watch later. It also doesn’t give the franchise a big ending you’d perhaps want.
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In general continuity between films can be a small problem, like in later movies they start explaining stuff that technically they shouldn’t know. You can come up with some nice mental gymnastics that they learned about them through books or other means between movies. And that’s how they learn more about the Apes and the early man and whatnot. Because otherwise they would know too much. It’s sort of like the Resident Evil movies changing the ending of the last movie to fit the new movie but not as bad. It’s more that apes seem to know more about humans in later movies than they really should. Marathoning these movies late at night might be the best way to do it, it’s a certain feel that gives it an extra umph. They’re all good movies in their own right with the first being the true classic and the others just a fun ride you enjoy.