Battle for the Planet of the Apes starts ten years or so after events of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) as a nuclear war has decimated human society & the Ape child of Zira & Cornelius who called himself Caesar (Roddy McDowall) has grown up, lead a Ape rebellion against man & is trying to start an Ape city where he dreams humans & Apes can co-exist in peace if not quite equality. Wanting to know the future & how he can change it for the better Caesar learns that the human archives contains tapes that feature Zira & Cornelius talking about the future. Caesar, human MacDonald (Austin Stoker) & wise Ape Professor Virgil (Paul Williams) travel to the archives in the ruined city & find the tapes but also alert a race of underground humans contaminated by radioactivity of their existence, in a decision of kill or be killed the human tribe decide to wage war on the Apes & wipe them all out...
Directed by J. Lee Thompson this was the fourth & final sequel to the original Planet of the Apes (1968), recently released on DVD & Blu-ray in a ten minutes longer than the original theatrical version 'Director's Cut' it's this longer 96 minute version that I will be basing my comments on. The film & it's continuity isn't that great but it's sort of fun in a silly sci-fi action sort of way, although within the space of ten years since Conquest of the Planet of the Apes there's been a nuclear war that has wiped out humanity & the Apes have learned to speak plus the ending in which Ape & human seem to co-exist in harmony is definitely at odds with the future that is clearly set out in the original two Planet of the Ape films & maybe it's no great surprise in retrospect that Battle for the Planet of the Apes turned out to be the last one. Although Battle for the Planet of the Apes does alter some continuity it retains some as it sets up the whole mutant human race & the atomic bomb plot from Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) & it refers to previous character's such as Zira & Cornelius. The film moves along at a decent pace, there's some alright if workmanlike action scenes & it's watchable but the dialogue which seems to try & have character's say something profound every time they open their mouth's is badly written. The whole role reversal is here again too as the makers try to point out humanities flaws with the story like the dangers of war & not to put animals in cages & stuff like that.
The make-up effects look cheap here as the executives at Twentieth Century Fox kept cutting the budget of each subsequent Planet of the Ape film, the original Planet of the Apes had a budget of nearly six million while by the time Battle for the Planet of the Apes was made it had a budget of less than two million. The battle scenes are rather flat & sure there's a few explosions & some gunfire but nothing terribly exciting or particularly well shot.
With a supposed budget of about $1,800,000 this looks alright but nothing amazing. Roddy McDowall again stars but this time as Caesar who is the son of Cornelius who he played in the previous films. Oscar winner John Huston has a cameo while future director John Landis has a small role early on in his career.
Battle for the Planet of the Apes isn't a total disaster & if you like the franchise then this is worth seeking out, even if your not it does have a few good moments & it entertains although the heavy handed morals can get tiresome as in the rest of the series.
Directed by J. Lee Thompson this was the fourth & final sequel to the original Planet of the Apes (1968), recently released on DVD & Blu-ray in a ten minutes longer than the original theatrical version 'Director's Cut' it's this longer 96 minute version that I will be basing my comments on. The film & it's continuity isn't that great but it's sort of fun in a silly sci-fi action sort of way, although within the space of ten years since Conquest of the Planet of the Apes there's been a nuclear war that has wiped out humanity & the Apes have learned to speak plus the ending in which Ape & human seem to co-exist in harmony is definitely at odds with the future that is clearly set out in the original two Planet of the Ape films & maybe it's no great surprise in retrospect that Battle for the Planet of the Apes turned out to be the last one. Although Battle for the Planet of the Apes does alter some continuity it retains some as it sets up the whole mutant human race & the atomic bomb plot from Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) & it refers to previous character's such as Zira & Cornelius. The film moves along at a decent pace, there's some alright if workmanlike action scenes & it's watchable but the dialogue which seems to try & have character's say something profound every time they open their mouth's is badly written. The whole role reversal is here again too as the makers try to point out humanities flaws with the story like the dangers of war & not to put animals in cages & stuff like that.
The make-up effects look cheap here as the executives at Twentieth Century Fox kept cutting the budget of each subsequent Planet of the Ape film, the original Planet of the Apes had a budget of nearly six million while by the time Battle for the Planet of the Apes was made it had a budget of less than two million. The battle scenes are rather flat & sure there's a few explosions & some gunfire but nothing terribly exciting or particularly well shot.
With a supposed budget of about $1,800,000 this looks alright but nothing amazing. Roddy McDowall again stars but this time as Caesar who is the son of Cornelius who he played in the previous films. Oscar winner John Huston has a cameo while future director John Landis has a small role early on in his career.
Battle for the Planet of the Apes isn't a total disaster & if you like the franchise then this is worth seeking out, even if your not it does have a few good moments & it entertains although the heavy handed morals can get tiresome as in the rest of the series.