Customer Reviews

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes is by no means "a very bad film" as the first reviewer here put it. It's actually a very well thought out film that does reflect some of the social upheaval in the United States during the late 60's and early 70's. Planet of the Apes films have always been a comment on the social climate during the period they were made.

Conquest is the darkest film of the Apes series, and the two different versions on the Blu-ray disc have varying levels of violence. The uncut version is very in your face and bloody and ends on a very violent note, which if you discount the fifth movie in the series Battle for the Planet of the Apes, makes a perfect transition to the first Apes film which is set after Conquest chronologically. In the first Apes film men are hunted for sport by apes, used for medical experiments and treated like animals. It was a pretty violent film for it's day as well.

The PG rated version of Conquest ends on a much more upbeat note that the timeline may have changed and that things might not end up so badly. There is still violence but not as much blood as the uncut version. It's really great to be able to see both versions of the film so that you can see where the film makers originally intended it to go and what the test audiences did not like about the movie before it was re-edited.

The film was directed by J. Lee Thompson who also directed The Guns of Navarone. And the look of the film is very deliberate. I suppose one could complain as the previous reviewer did that the artistic use of colors in the film is distracting, but I feel it shows that the creators of this film actually put some thought into how they wanted the audience to react to the characters and environments on the screen. One also has to remember that this movie was made several years before Star Wars came on the scene and changed the way we look at special effects in science fiction films. But for the period it was made in the costumes and effects are very well done. Personally I love the look of the city in the film but then I'm a bit of a apes fan to begin with.

Anyway in my opinion this is my favorite of the Apes sequels. If your an apes fan or you've seen the first three but never checked out the fourth, the Blu-ray version is the one to get. You get to see both versions of the film in very good video quality with great sound as well.

I just watched this last night after having not seen it for at least twenty years. Compared to all of the other "Apes" sequels, this one holds up the best for me.

"Beneath" feels like "Apes" lite: I kept thinking, "When are we getting back to Charlton Heston?"
"Escape" is probably the silliest to me (although it has one of my favorite soundtracks in the series.)
And "Battle" just comes off as cheap and shoddy. Most of the run time is spent in a grove of trees with treehouses.

In "Conquest", I like the colors of the apes' jumpsuits. I also like the sets, and the use of Century City was a great choice as the nameless "futuristic" city of 1991. The actors did a good job. Don Murray made a wonderful villain and Ricardo Montalban and Roddy McDowall were both excellent.

If you're hyper-critical and are going to be bothered by a reality check, you probably shouldn't watch movies like this one (or maybe ANY movies, because they're an escape from reality.) If you enjoy sci-fi with a fascist Orwellian setting (kind of like the present time we live in) this is fun.

This is the forth installment in the POTA's series and I'm aware that this film was severely cut before releasing it in theaters. Fortunately they have restored the edited scenes in an extended version available only on Blu Ray. This was done to "Battle for" on standard DVD a few years ago. The theatrical release of the film is pretty good, but a bigger budget would have helped it a great deal. The problem with most of the POTA sequels is that they were pushing for a G rating so kids could go see them. This is the studios idea, not the directors of the films. The sequels are too middle ground. Too violent for the kids, but too tame for adults! I don't mean to be harsh on these films as I am a big fan! I saw them all at the theaters growing up and have seen them many times now. This is a good film that could have been much better....hopefully the Blu Ray extended version retores the original vision of the story. The DVD transfer is very good and I will add more once I've watched the Blu Ray.

The fourth movie in the "Planet of the Apes" series is a decent albeit no-frills affair. Roddy McDowall once again stars, this time as Caesar, the son of Cornelius (who he played in earlier films) and Zira. Caesar is the only talking ape on Earth, although he's been hidden by circus owner Armando (Ricardo Montalban). When Armando takes Caesar into public for the first time, he relates to Caesar how apes came to become the #1 pet in the country, which also serves as narration for the audience. Apparently, a plague from space killed all the dogs and cats in the 1980s, and Americans turned to apes and other primates to replace them. By 1991 when the film is set, though, humans essentially have turned primates into slaves, forcing them run errands, clean their homes, and even work as waiters in restaurants. However, all of that will soon change once Caesar is discovered by the fascist Governor Breck.

"Conquest of the Planet of the Apes" is weaker than the prior three movies in the series. The final battle, in particular, is kind of ridiculous and suffers from the film's low budget; unfortunately, the weakness of this section undercuts the social message of the movie. Another debit is the lack of explanation regarding how the US had become an oppressive society so quickly since the last Apes movie. Incidentally, if you haven't seen the first three films, you probably will be totally lost, as "Conquest" is quite dependent on the Apes mythology. Despite these weaknesses, "Conquest" is a relatively enjoyable movie. What I found most interesting was how the makers of these movies managed to make each one different in plot and tone - "Conquest" wasn't just a rehash of the prior entries, preventing the series from falling into predictability. Although I found "Conquest" to be rather lackluster, it was good enough to make me want to see the fifth and final Apes film, "Battle for the Planet of the Apes."

Near future for the 1970s, that is. A good movie and one of the ones that rarely gets rebroadcast today. In this one Caesar, the son of two apes from the far future whi were sent back in time, has grown to adulthood and must hide his identity from the State, which is determined to prevent the takeover of the world by intelligent apes. They are pretty ruthless in their methods, needless to say.

This movie got back to the true tradition of PLANET OF THE APES. It wasn't all lovey-dovey, it was repressive dominance, that leads to revolt. The portrayal of poor simian conditions was excellent, it really makes you sympathize for them... eventhough you know they're gonna start ruling over us...

The shock value is excellent and most of the reviewers nail that factor. However, too many plot holes exist in this movie. The government sends in its troops in small batches and fights them man to ape. No gas. No tanks. No air power. Why fight a mob like that hand to hand when you have helicopter gunships? They also didn't use even standard infantry tactics, just marched them in there straight up. Guess they never heard of setting up an ambush. I know the point they were trying to make but I laugh every time I see the battles as there is no way any military commander would fight as these troops did.

This installment was excellent!! It got back to the original in the sense that it exploits ape behavior that we would otherwise exhibit. This is ape filming at it's top: almost as good as Escape, without the emotional ties that kept us rivetted. Still, this is as good as any film on the social revolution in the sixties. We have been presented with revolution based on freedom on a larger scale than we could produce. "This is the planet of the apes!!"

That one was supposed to come and we waited twenty years for it to come, but it came of age and here we have it at the tips of our fingers on the DVD console. This tale is so simple that it is in a way emotionally overwhelming. How can we accept to see some humans mistreating their servants and home pets that they have turned into slavery. Let's revisit America and the auction block and the electric shocks and the torture and the humiliation and the sex on command and the procreation for a profit. Dirty old town indeed, if it is Los Angeles, well the angels are having nightmares right now. It is amazing how romanticism may still inspire our rather weak minds. The point is that we feel sorry for these poor souls that are mistreated and victimized but at the same time we do not see and don't want to see what may and will and shall happen if that goes on too long. Sooner or later there will be a big bang somewhere in our social constellation. And the film tries to be factual about a revolution of unarmed apes taking over the city against machine guns with just a little bit of wit, massive participation and determination. The flaw of our romanticism confronted to that blunt violence and the words of it can only make us afraid. Let's fear what we cannot control and let us kill ahead of time all those who may possess the words of that revolution. How sad because this film could have been a lot more powerful in drama and tragedy. No death on any one side of a revolutionary battle is acceptable, even if it is the tyrant that has just been ousted, even if some kind of a trial has been organized in the urgency and emergency of the moment so that there will be no discussion when the steam has come down. My time be long, my time be short tomorrow or today unjust causes always come to an end, and all causes that do not respect everyone, including one's opponents, not to speak of one's enemies, is doomed to come to a sad and cruel end and the defeat is at the end of the road, even if you get out of it without any remorse. Without any remorse, my foot. This film is remorse building for you humans who are not even able to accept what god has decided to do. We are nothing, we are nothing, we are nothing, nothing but a smite of dust in the sunshine of the Lord.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Paris 8 Saint Denis, University Paris 12 Créteil, CEGID

The soft torture-porn of the 1970s was very special. In this one Roddy MacDowell and Ricardo Montalban play the victims. Both do excellent jobs; Montalban's is better. I'm still afraid when I lean back in a dentist's chair and see the light shining into my face.