Beneath The Planet Of The Apes (1970)

Credit: 20th Centuty Fox

As a friend recently joked, this movie could be called Beneath the Budget of the Planet of the Apes. 20th Century Fox actually did slash the budget in half and it shows, because while the main actors resume the ape make-up from the original, the background apes are noticeably lacking. They all appear in expressionless ape masks made on the cheap. I've also read that many sets were reused from other Fox movies.

Not only is there a noticeable lack of budget for this movie, it seems to follow the original a little too closely. Another astronaut crash-lands onto the planet in search of Taylor, and upon landing, he meets Taylor's mute female companion, Nova. Together they travel to ape city, where the new astronaut named Brent (James Franciscus) accepts his new surroundings a lot better than Taylor did. Brent doesn't really add much to the story, instead what he does is run back and forth between ape city and the desert a few times while gorillas are trailing behind. The story is lacking just like the budget for the first half of movie, while there is also a severe lack in Charlton Heston as well. It appears that he didn't want to do a sequel and only agreed if he would have a minimal role. He also donated his salary to charity which is a noble thing to do.

The movie really doesn't get interesting until we actually go "beneath" the planet and explore the Forbidden Zone, which is an area that's off-limits to apes. A creepy cult of humans is discovered to be living in the ruins of New York City, and like many sequels, this ups the ante as there are astronauts vs a gorilla army vs a new threat in these mutated foes. Just as the movie was finally becoming interesting and revealing more secrets of the apes' origin, it ends. I wanted more of it to be set inside the Forbidden Zone, but maybe that's why it's so appealing since they only give us a taste of what's actually lurking inside. The mutants' presence is actually felt before we see them, since they appear to the gorillas and Taylor in the form of illusions of fire and lightning. The first movie may have even accidentally teased these mutants because as Taylor and his crew are exploring the desert, they witness strange lightning in the sky.

Beneath the Planet of the Apes may not be as good as the original but it does attempt to top it's ending with an ironic twist. In the original film, Taylor pounds his fist in anger that "they" blew up the planet in a nuclear war yet this time it's actually he who blows it up for good.

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Credit: 20th Century Fox

While growing up, my favorite movies were the Indiana Jones series, Back to the Future, and The Goonies. However this movie impacted me in a different way because I learned about something called "letter box". The Encore channel was going to air a Planet of the Apes movie marathon, with a letter box presentation of the films. I wasn't aware what that meant but the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen made the Planet of the Apes appear to be more than just a movie, it was epic. Now I know that's the way all movies are filmed, but the black bars were added to allow the whole movie to fit within the frame of the television screen.

I have to admit that as I watched the Planet of the Apes and it's sequels during that marathon, I actually liked the original less than those that followed. Approaching it as an adult, I now have a better understanding of the story and the efforts from the actors and the production crew. This could have easily been a silly movie featuring actors in ape suits yet they take their performances seriously. Kim Hunter and Roddy McDowall co-star as a chimpanzee couple of scientists, Zira and Cornelius, who have studied mannerisms of the animals they are portraying and used them in their performance to act through the make-up using facial expressions. Charlton Heston gives a helluva performance as the hero ("Taylor") because he also must act using only facial expressions for the middle portion of the movie.

Heston's Taylor is an astronaut who has crash-landed on a strange planet that appears to be just an endless desert. Taylor and his crew finally encounter signs of life, a group of primitive humans, who are then hunted and captured by gorilla soldiers on horseback. I love how this whole sequence is filmed, as you hear a strange noise off in the distance first, then there is gunfire, before the unknown hunters are finally revealed. Heston's character takes a bullet to the throat, leaving him unable to speak, so he initially blends in with the others in captivity because they were never able to speak. The movie builds to the moment when Taylor finally speaks and it threatens the foundation of the ape society.

In addition to great acting, amazing make-up work, and it's script filled with wit as well as social commentary, there is an unseen force in this movie that deserves credit as well. The musical score by Jerry Goldsmith is bordering on frightening at times, yet it's also very minimal, as it ranges from unusual percussion to sounds that mimic animal noises. While the ending of the film is a shocker that has stuck with people decades later, the music is something that left an impression on me as I later noticed that the score from the TV program Lost mimicked the Apes score at times. I also grew up with a fondness for the unusual twists and far-out tales of the Twilight Zone program, so it was a nice surprise to learn that it shares a similarity with Planet of the Apes: Rod Serling. He was the creator of The Twilight Zone, a show that used science fiction to tell stories of social commentary, so it actually shouldn't be a surprise because that's exactly what this Planet of the Apes movie is about.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

Credit: 20th Century Fox

I’m pretty certain most movie watchers are familiar with the plot of the original, where astronauts think they crash-landed on a distant planet but in reality they time-traveled to Earth’s future and apes have enslaved what’s left of the human race. It was even remade exactly 10 years ago to less success by Tim Burton and starred “Marky” Mark Wahlberg. However this movie is not a remake and I wouldn’t even call it a “prequel” to any Apes film we’ve seen before. The earlier films played on fears of a nuclear holocaust but Rise adds a modern spin since now we’re all searching for cures to diseases and what happens when we try to “play God.”

In past movies all of the apes were actually people in costumes and make-up but Rise done with computerized effects. I was very skeptical at first when I saw the trailers but it turned out to be among the best special effect work I’ve seen this year. The way they achieved it was through motion-capture, where actors played the parts of each ape and then it was digitized later on computers. It was very effective as the lead ape, Caesar, drew me into the story with his mannerisms and facial expressions. The actor who played Caesar deserves recognition for his hard work but I felt that James Franco (who played Dr. Will Rodman) as his caretaker didn’t hold up his end of the film. He was supposed to be distraught but ended up looking stoned throughout most of his scenes.

You don’t need to be familiar with the Planet of the Apes series to enjoy this film, but if you are, then the writers added several “easter eggs” for observant fans. Even the famous line from the original, “get your stinking paws off me”, is said in the movie. Don’t worry though, this doesn’t end with a goofy twist but it does have a satisfying conclusion that hints at a future sequel. At the time I felt it was the best movie of the summer season, but it turned out to be my favorite of the entire year. Rise of the Planet of the Apes isn’t just a cool-looking action movie or a fun way to waste two hours, it’s actually a story with heart and actually pays off moments that are set up early in the film.