Review- Planet of the Apes
War for the Planet of the Apes comes out this week (technically today in some places) and as I am famously the one fan of the franchise, I wanted to celebrate by reviewing all of the films from the franchise, from the original masterpiece to the new CGI showcases and everywhere in between. I won't be reviewing Dawn as I reviewed that in the early days of the blog but all others have their time. To start, let's look at the film that started it all, in spectacular fashion.
For the first film, I'm not going to talk any big spoilers because if you somehow don't know what happens, I don't want to spoil this for you. The essential plot is that some astronauts end up on a planet in the distant future but because they crashed and broke their equipment, they don't know where and they barely know when. After exploring this planet, they realise that it is a Planet of Apes (what a twist) where apes are the superior species and the humans are stupid and treated as mere pets. Taylor, the main character, is the only one to survive being hunted by the apes and must try and escape, probably with the female human who is literally mute. There is the iconic twist of course but the rest of the plot is pretty simple, being a blatant social parable on the way we treat apes.
When it comes to acting... I mean look, I'm not gonna lie, this film isn't amazing on acting. There is one iconic performance and that is Charlton Heston. After Ben Hur, many thought that Heston had had his definitive performance but here, as Taylor, he is fantastic. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mean that it's a great performance, Heston is just magnetic on screen. He shouts, slams his fists and delivers lines that should be cheesy in a way that makes them gloriously cheesy. Heston was such an important part of the film that producers had to fight to get him in the sequel, even if only for a few minutes. The other important actor is Roddy McDowall and get used to hearing his name. Essentially, he is the Andy Serkis of the original franchise as he plays the lead ape (for this film, Cornelius) and does a pretty decent job at actually pushing emotion through his plastic mask. His female counterpart is Kim Hunter who plays his wife Zira and is also a big fixture of the original series, doing a decent enough job here but she'll be better later. Come for the Heston, stay for Heston shouting even louder.
For my third paragraph in these reviews, I want to talk about the whole "Planet of the Apes factor" of these films because it is a big part of my affection for them and it will certainly become more important in later films. This first film largely takes itself seriously but there is still plenty of schlock. As I mentioned earlier, Charlton Heston delivers his lines in a very cheesy way, the reason that many of his lines have become somewhat iconic. The closing "You blew it up!" is obviously a standout line but my favourite is the oft repeated, never bettered "Get your stinking paws off of me you damn dirty ape". Despite the sincerity that the film presents, much of it will be spent laughing and I mean that in the best way. One of the things that prevails throughout the franchise is this idiotic lovableness which keeps you at least partially invested constantly, even when the films aren't technically amazing.
If you're going to watch any of the films before the new trilogy, this is the one to see. It has an iconic status that isn't hard to understand and while not always an actually well made film, it is consistently enjoyable. For sci-fi fans, this is an essential watch purely for the amount of influence it has although everyone else can be forgiven for passing it up. Still, it's the start of a franchise that I really care about so I give it a
For the first film, I'm not going to talk any big spoilers because if you somehow don't know what happens, I don't want to spoil this for you. The essential plot is that some astronauts end up on a planet in the distant future but because they crashed and broke their equipment, they don't know where and they barely know when. After exploring this planet, they realise that it is a Planet of Apes (what a twist) where apes are the superior species and the humans are stupid and treated as mere pets. Taylor, the main character, is the only one to survive being hunted by the apes and must try and escape, probably with the female human who is literally mute. There is the iconic twist of course but the rest of the plot is pretty simple, being a blatant social parable on the way we treat apes.
When it comes to acting... I mean look, I'm not gonna lie, this film isn't amazing on acting. There is one iconic performance and that is Charlton Heston. After Ben Hur, many thought that Heston had had his definitive performance but here, as Taylor, he is fantastic. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mean that it's a great performance, Heston is just magnetic on screen. He shouts, slams his fists and delivers lines that should be cheesy in a way that makes them gloriously cheesy. Heston was such an important part of the film that producers had to fight to get him in the sequel, even if only for a few minutes. The other important actor is Roddy McDowall and get used to hearing his name. Essentially, he is the Andy Serkis of the original franchise as he plays the lead ape (for this film, Cornelius) and does a pretty decent job at actually pushing emotion through his plastic mask. His female counterpart is Kim Hunter who plays his wife Zira and is also a big fixture of the original series, doing a decent enough job here but she'll be better later. Come for the Heston, stay for Heston shouting even louder.
For my third paragraph in these reviews, I want to talk about the whole "Planet of the Apes factor" of these films because it is a big part of my affection for them and it will certainly become more important in later films. This first film largely takes itself seriously but there is still plenty of schlock. As I mentioned earlier, Charlton Heston delivers his lines in a very cheesy way, the reason that many of his lines have become somewhat iconic. The closing "You blew it up!" is obviously a standout line but my favourite is the oft repeated, never bettered "Get your stinking paws off of me you damn dirty ape". Despite the sincerity that the film presents, much of it will be spent laughing and I mean that in the best way. One of the things that prevails throughout the franchise is this idiotic lovableness which keeps you at least partially invested constantly, even when the films aren't technically amazing.
If you're going to watch any of the films before the new trilogy, this is the one to see. It has an iconic status that isn't hard to understand and while not always an actually well made film, it is consistently enjoyable. For sci-fi fans, this is an essential watch purely for the amount of influence it has although everyone else can be forgiven for passing it up. Still, it's the start of a franchise that I really care about so I give it a
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