A Series Review: Planet of the Apes – Part 3
Posted by jat59072Others: Reviews, Series
Read the Planet of the Apes Series Review Part 1 here, and Part 2 here.
Movie #3: Escape From the Planet of the Apes (1971)
So, how do you continue a franchise that has the world explode in its second installment? It’s easy, as we see in Escape From the Planet of the Apes: simply inexplicably send your characters back in time using pseudo-science and guessing as an explanation. Yes, as we discover in the pre-cedits sequence of Escape, apparently, while Charlton Heston’s Taylor was destroying the Earth, Zira, Cornelius, and new ape super-scientist, Dr. Milo hopped on a space ship and were somehow sent back to two years after Taylor’s original launch from Earth: 1973.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: what an incredibly cool and creative way to continue the series, basically paralleling the previous two movies by this time, having the apes get stuck on a planet full of humans. But this soon gets old, as almost the entire first hour turns into one long interrogation scene that consists mainly of exposition that is delivered as if it were some sort of senate sub-committee hearing…oh, wait…it is a senate sub-committee hearing. As you can imagine, this is as entertaining as watching C-SPAN for an hour and a half, but with a funkier soundtrack and wardrobe.
And as interesting as it is to hear Cornelius tell the story of how the human race fell to their pet orangutans, what would be even cooler was if it matched up with anything that had previously been established in the two earlier movies. Cornelius talks about Aldo, the first ape to ever talk, and the celebration his people have every year to commemorate this momentous event, but in the previous Apes movies, we’re told that all apes had no knowledge of their pasts, believing they were divinely created as they were by god. Along with the fact that the spaceship they flew back in time on was last seen at the bottom of a lake, there’s too many distracting plot holes and continuity errors to be interested in any of the history lesson that comes out of Cornelius’ mouth.
Aside from this, however, there are some pretty cool ideas about the possibility of time travel and how it could apply to the situation. Escape also features one of the most well-spoken and considerate villains in the series with Dr. Otto Hasslein, as played by Eric Braeden, who is concerned only about the continuation of the human race, fearing that the apes story and appearance at this time are more than coincidence, believing that they will bring upon the fall of man. When he is reassured that they mean no harm, he monologues with great purpose, dropping gems of dialogue like, “We think we’ve got all the time in the world! How much time has the world got? Somebody has to begin to care!” After a while, he kind of starts to make sense, making the audience wonder why these side characters from the first two movies should suddenly get a free pass, after the way they treated the humans in their time.
It’s kind of boring, makes little sense, and, aside from a few cool moments, is totally unnecessary, especially considering that the franchise literally self-imploded at the end of the last installment, but Escape From the Planet of the Apes isn’t entirely bad, and kind of leaves off with an interesting twist that will surely pay off in the next installment. At this point, it’s obvious they’re just making it up as they go along, and so far, it’s the worst of the series, in my opinion, but, hey…the director shares a name with my dad, so I’ve got to give it some credit.
5 out of 10.
Related posts:
- A Series Review: Planet of the Apes – Part 4
- A Series Review: Planet of the Apes – Part 5
- A Series Review: Planet of the Apes – Part 2
- A Series Review: Planet of the Apes – Part 1
- A Series Review: Star Trek – Part 6
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