Planet of the Apes (5 Stars)

In preparation for "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes", the fourth film in the rebooted series, I'm going to watch the older films. Not all of them. The first two films were masterpieces. The third, "Escape from the Planet of the Apes", was interesting, because it introduced a temporal paradox: an ape from the 40th century became the ancestor of the intelligent apes in the 20th century. The fourth and fifth films were uninspired, so I'll ignore them. After some thought I've decided to ignore the third film as well.

The sixth film, made in 2001, was a big budget remake of the 1968 film. It was okay, but unnecessary, so I'll skip it as well, and move straight to the seventh film that rebooted the franchise. 

"Planet of the Apes" was one of the best films of the 1960's, and in my opinion the best science fiction film. Many of my readers might prefer "2001: A Space Odyssey", which was released a month later, but I beg to disagree.

The film begins with a spaceship that's been sent to explore distant space. Despite needing 700 years for the journey, they'll only age one year, because of something called time dilation. Due to a miscalculation, they actually travel for 2000 years. Of the four crew members, only one survives. One dies in the ship, one is killed after landing, and the third is lobotomised. Taylor explores the planet, and he finds that it's ruled by intelligent apes. There are humans, but they have lesser intelligence, and they're unable to talk.

When he's captured, most of the apes want to kill Taylor. They're amazed that he's able to speak, so they want to cut him open and examine his brain. He's befriended by two chimpanzee scientists. He also links up with a human woman that he calls Nova. It's hinted that Taylor and Nova have a relationship. The chimpanzee Dr. Zira puts Nova in the same cage as Taylor, but we don't see what happens overnight.

In the original version of the film, Nova became pregnant with Taylor's child, but the studios rejected this and the later scenes of the film were reshot. Has this footage been lost forever? It would be good material to be used for Blu-ray extras.

Taylor and Zira even share a kiss. No tongue.

Taylor and Nova flee with Zira and her fiancé Cornelius into the Forbidden Zone, because Cornelius once did research and suspects it might provide clues about the planet's history. They're pursued by gorillas, accompanied by the orangutan Dr. Zaius, the Keeper Of The Faith. He's a hypocrite. He knows that there used to be intelligent humans on the planet, but he denies it, because it would be heresy. So many things in the film can be applied to our own culture.

Am I allowed to give a spoiler? The film is 55 years old, so I expect most people have either seen it or heard about it. Taylor and Nova ride away, and they find the Statue of Liberty. This distant planet is really the Earth. Over the last 2000 years apes have evolved and mankind has devolved.

If you sit and analyse the film you'll find many things that are illogical. You need to suspend disbelief. How do the apes speak English? Why do they use 20th century rifles? But it's still a masterpiece.

Success Rate:  + 3.7

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