Battle for the Planet of the Apes
Year: 1973
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Starring: Claude Akins, Severn Darden, Roddy McDowall, Austin Stoker & Paul Williams
Runtime: 93 mins
BBFC: PG
Published: 21/02/24
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Starring: Claude Akins, Severn Darden, Roddy McDowall, Austin Stoker & Paul Williams
Runtime: 93 mins
BBFC: PG
Published: 21/02/24
Warning: This review contains spoilers for Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
This was it, the end of a string of mildly financially successful disappointments. Each of the three previous Planet of the Apes sequels, Beneath, Escape, and Conquest, had shown promise in one area or another but had massively fallen short of the original films legacy because of bad writing or budgetary restraints. Fox and APJAC studios had truly milked the franchise for all it’s worth and with this final film they gave a pitifully small budget simply to maximise the profits they could take from its carcass. With writer Paul Dehn having setup the finale to come full circle, could Battle for the Planet of the Apes at least deliver a satisfying close to the once beloved franchise? The short answer is no.
Some time after the events of Conquest, humanity is facing self-extinction because of its liberal use of nuclear weapons in a futile attempt to stop the global ape uprising. Caesar (Roddy McDowall) has established Ape City, a place where apes live in relative harmony whilst humans serve their new masters. Unhappy with the state of affairs, military leader General Aldo Claude Akins) challenges Caesar’s leadership. Meanwhile a small pocket of human survivors in the nearby Forbidden Zone plan an attack on Ape City in a last ditch attempt to save their species.
Battle’s story is reasonably interesting but poorly executed. But almost all of Battle’s failings can be blamed on budgetary restraints over anything else. Dehn seems to have worked out how to write a decently paced Planet of the Apes film after three failed attempts, and Battle actually moves at a brisk pace with plenty happening in it to keep it interesting.
Some time after the events of Conquest, humanity is facing self-extinction because of its liberal use of nuclear weapons in a futile attempt to stop the global ape uprising. Caesar (Roddy McDowall) has established Ape City, a place where apes live in relative harmony whilst humans serve their new masters. Unhappy with the state of affairs, military leader General Aldo Claude Akins) challenges Caesar’s leadership. Meanwhile a small pocket of human survivors in the nearby Forbidden Zone plan an attack on Ape City in a last ditch attempt to save their species.
Battle’s story is reasonably interesting but poorly executed. But almost all of Battle’s failings can be blamed on budgetary restraints over anything else. Dehn seems to have worked out how to write a decently paced Planet of the Apes film after three failed attempts, and Battle actually moves at a brisk pace with plenty happening in it to keep it interesting.
The human army led by Governor Kolp (Severn Darden) does feel a little shoehorned in to give the final battle a bit more weight. Whilst their introduction is all well and good they end up cropping up a few times periodically throughout the film and each time it feels less necessary than the last.
Meanwhile Aldo could have been a half decent villain if he was a little more compelling. He’s far too stupid to take seriously is the problem, and we as an audience are somehow supposed to believe that this moron who can hardly string a sentence together manages to convince enough apes to follow him over Caesar. I like this struggle for leadership and the way in which apekind starts to mimic humankind as a result. But it’s just hard to see Aldo as much of a threat when he’s the dumbest character in the film.
The title suggests just how much of a focus was being placed on the climactic end battle, and unfortunately it seems a little quaint. The budget is definitely to blame here because it pretty much just consists of a handful of cars awkwardly dressed up to look like tanks going up against a couple of dozen apes with some small pyrotechnics going off. Grand is not the word I would use, in fact it looks more akin to two LARP groups having a scrap in the local park.
Battle for the Planet of the Apes signalled the end of the franchise for almost thirty years. It went out with a whimper, though not for lack of trying. It’s not a good film, but it could have been had it been given a larger budget. But clearly audiences had stopped caring by this point too as it was by far the lowest grossing entry in the franchise. A break was definitely needed, but the new millennium would signal a new opportunity for this once beloved franchise.
Meanwhile Aldo could have been a half decent villain if he was a little more compelling. He’s far too stupid to take seriously is the problem, and we as an audience are somehow supposed to believe that this moron who can hardly string a sentence together manages to convince enough apes to follow him over Caesar. I like this struggle for leadership and the way in which apekind starts to mimic humankind as a result. But it’s just hard to see Aldo as much of a threat when he’s the dumbest character in the film.
The title suggests just how much of a focus was being placed on the climactic end battle, and unfortunately it seems a little quaint. The budget is definitely to blame here because it pretty much just consists of a handful of cars awkwardly dressed up to look like tanks going up against a couple of dozen apes with some small pyrotechnics going off. Grand is not the word I would use, in fact it looks more akin to two LARP groups having a scrap in the local park.
Battle for the Planet of the Apes signalled the end of the franchise for almost thirty years. It went out with a whimper, though not for lack of trying. It’s not a good film, but it could have been had it been given a larger budget. But clearly audiences had stopped caring by this point too as it was by far the lowest grossing entry in the franchise. A break was definitely needed, but the new millennium would signal a new opportunity for this once beloved franchise.