Director: J Lee Thompson
Writer: John William Corrington, Joyce Hooper Corrington (Screenplay) Paul Dehn, Pierre Boulle (Story/Characters)
Starring: Roddy McDowall, Claude Akins, Nathalie Trundy, Severn Darden, Lew Ayres, Paul Williams
Plot: Ten years after conquering the Earth, ape leader Caesar wants the ruling apes and enslaved humans to live in peace. But warring factions of apes led by a militant gorilla general as well as various human groups threaten the stability.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Nice Conclusion to the Franchise
Story: Battle for the Planet of the Apes starts with a 5-minute flashback to what has happened through the previous films. We move into the near future, where Caesar’s uprising has seen the apes learned to talk and are still being taught with humans living as slaves.
Caesar looking for answers about his parents arranged to travel back to the destroyed cities but in his absence the gorilla General Aldo (Akins) tired of the humans being welcomed leads his own uprising against Caesar as we are left to see who has control of the planet of the apes now with Governor Kolp (Darden) till fight on behalf of the humans too.
Thoughts on Battle for the Planet of the Apes
Characters/Performance – Caesar now leading his colony of apes, still wants answers from his past about the future but now he must deal with a battle from within as well as a battle against man. He is a strong leader, looking for answers that don’t mean war but peace between all kinds. General Aldo is the inpatient leader of the gorilla army that wants to end the peace and exterminate all humans, he challenges Caesar on every opportunity. Lisa is the wife of Caesar who tries to guide him in the peaceful path rather than returning to the fighting world.
Performance wise, Roddy McDowall does continue to do a good job in the leading role, with Claude Akins doing a good job in this villainous ape role. The rest of the performance are good before working for what the film needed.
Story – The story continues on the story of Caesar and his uprising against humans, we get to fill in part of the blanks into why the planet was now run in apes in the first film. the film takes on three sides of the battle the ape that wants peace, the humans that want their planet back and the general who wants blood to rule the land. I think this all comes together how you would imagine the apes took power of Earth.
Action/Sci-Fi – The action sequences are all generic to how you would expect them to be with the future world not at the levels you would expect it to be, this far down the timeline.
Settings – The settings are pretty much just fields, they could be set up to be anywhere in the world.
Special Effects – The effects are simple enough when needed only.
Final Thoughts – I like how the story has been writing the history we could once have been heading towards, I think this is smart story telling in the long run.
Overall: This is a nice ending to the franchise even if it isn’t the strongest member of the franchise.
Rating
