Planet of the Apes
for some sequences of action/violence.
Reviewed by: Brett Willis
CONTRIBUTOR
| Moral Rating: | Average |
| Moviemaking Quality: |
|
| Primary Audience: | Teen to Adult |
| Genre: | Sci-Fi Action Adventure Mystery Drama Remake |
| Length: | 2 hr. |
| Year of Release: | 2001 |
| USA Release: |
July 27, 2001 (wide) |
apes hunting humans
science runs amok
caged humans
class differences
evolution
creationism
Does the DNA similarity between chimps and humans prove a common ancestry? Answer
Who’s who and what’s what in the world of “missing” links? Answer
Is there fossil evidence of “missing links” between humans and apes? Did ancient humans live millions of years ago? Answer
What was the FIRST MAN, really like? Answer
| Featuring |
Mark Wahlberg … Captain Leo Davidson Tim Roth … Thade Helena Bonham Carter … Ari Michael Clarke Duncan … Attar Paul Giamatti … Limbo Estella Warren … Daena Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa … Krull David Warner … Sandar Kris Kristofferson … Karubi See all » |
| Director |
Tim Burton |
| Producer |
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation The Zanuck Company Tim Burton Productions Ralph Winter … executive producer Richard D. Zanuck … producer Ross Fanger … associate producer Katterli Frauenfelder … associate producer Iain Smith … line producer: London |
| Distributor |
 20th Century Studios, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Studios, a division of The Walt Disney Company |
It should come as no surprise that this film isn’t about serious issues of any kind. It’s about following a proven formula, creating escapism and making tons of money.
In the near future, a USAF survey spaceship encounters a strange deep-space storm. Per policy, a trained chimp is sent out in a lifepod to investigate (and to test if it’s safe for humans). When the chimp’s pod disappears, Capt. Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) disobeys orders and takes out another lifepod on a rescue mission. The storm sends Davidson’s lifepod into the future and crashlands it on a planet where talking apes (chimps, orangs and gorillas—no gibbons) are the rulers and humans are slaves.
Ape attitudes toward humans vary widely. Ari (Helena Bonham Carter), a liberal senator’s daughter, wants them regarded as equals. On the other end of the scale, the power-hungry and ruthless Thade (Tim Roth) wants them wiped out. Presumably, the “silent ape majority” is somewhere in between, wanting things to stay pretty much as they are.
Davidson enlists Ari’s help in trying to get back to his ship. This results in pitting some apes against others, a gigantic Davidson vs. Thade battle scene, and an ending with more twists and holes than the storm that sent Davidson here in the first place. Just when we think the revelations in the Forbidden Zone have explained what we see, we get zinged again in the finale.
Content warnings: The profanity and suggestive language is very scarce and mild. There are a lot of killings of apes and humans; but they’re shown in a relatively bloodless, impersonal way. Humans are controlled with animal-handling tools including a long grab-collar, and are branded. Thade is a scumball only a little less bad than Roth’s character in “Rob Roy”. it’s understandable that as an ape, Thade might kill humans whom he considers a threat; but he also murders loyal apes when it suits his agenda.
There’s of course an implied evolutionary background, but the apes’ theories of evolutionary advancement are self-serving (apes at the top, then monkeys, then humans). There’s a bedroom scene (interrupted) between a couple consisting of a chimp and an orang, and one member of this couple makes a remark that humans shouldn’t be regarded as equals because there’s enough “diversity” already. In other words, the three ape types are being portrayed as races rather than species. Meanwhile, the apes say that the humans (which include Europeans, Africans and Asians) “all look alike.”
it’s impossible to avoid comparisons with the 1968 version. There are several stolen scenes. The makeup, which was great in the original, is much better; except for the upper lips of some of the female chimps, it’s totally believable. And the ape movements and stunts are fantastic. Probably an Oscar nomination for makeup, and possibly for sound and sound editing. Several characters from the original are given bit parts here. In a screwy humor move, NRA president Charlton Heston plays Thade’s dying father, a chimp who hates humans and their technology, especially guns. He repeats one of his memorable profanity lines from the original, and another ape repeats the other; both lines are placed in a new context. Heston’s co-star Linda Harrison also has a role.
The ending? It made no sense to me. In the original novel, there are repeated shocks as the reader slowly learns that “parallel evolution” is taking place on planets all across the galaxy—humans on each world develop technology first; then apes take over, displace and enslave the humans, and don’t invent anything new but just “ape” some of what they find. The 1968 film version made no attempt to mirror the multi-world premise; it used a shocking and depressing ending of a different kind. The sequels to the earlier version included references to Lamarckian evolution, and a twist involving apes traveling back in time and becoming their own ancestors. Is this version following the novel, the earlier film version, or neither? Can’t tell. Either [1] there were several endings filmed, and they picked the one that had the biggest gut-punch on the test audiences, even if it didn’t make any sense (as in “Along Came a Spider”), or [2] we’re being set up for a sequel (as soon as they can get Marty McFly and Doc under contract).
If you like this kind of stuff, may as well see it. But leave the little kids at home and your brains at the door.
First, we are to believe that an Air Force officer is so undisciplined and shallow that he would risk his life, his craft and his fellow astronauts on a jaunt into space against orders for absolutely no good reason. (Being a Navy officer, this really bugs me.)
Second, a crashed, derelict spacecraft that was not designed to enter an atmosphere is still semi-operable after thousands of years in a desert. While I admire Boeing, even THEY can’t do that. Third, the ending was just plain silly. Even if you might be able to stomach the rest of the film, the ending makes you want to ask for your money back. (I actually laughed out loud at the ludicrous plot twist.) Overall, a well-executed movie (technically), but not worth the time.
[Average / 3½]
[Good / 3]
[Better than Average / 3½]
[Good / 4½]
[Better than Average / 4½]
[Average / 2]
The continuous hints about the planet being Earth and constant references to evolution killed the effect the original movie had. The biggest thing that destroyed the movie, was the ending. Not only did they take out the ending that made the original great, but they replaced it with one that didn’t make any sense (did he travel back in time the first time, if so why do the apes look the same, doesn’t this movie rely on evolution).
[Average / 2]
[Average / 4½]
There are also other self-conscious references to the original which in a strange way end up showing the overall lack of imagination Burton and his writers have brought to the project. It makes for an uneven tone where the film veers from straight action to self-conscious parody to weak sermonizing. The “reverse evolution” debate aspect of the original movie isn’t dealt with in this movie, but there is in fact a more condescending attitude toward religious faith than one could ever accuse the original movie of having, especially when Carter muses her disdain over how the Apes account of creation was a fairy tale developed to provide an explanation for later generations.
Also, there is a subtle implication of romantic attraction between the human Wahlberg and the ape Carter that while leading to nothing more than one goodbye kiss will still seem somewhat disquieting. In terms of graphic violence and profanity though, there is relatively little. In the tradition of the original film, there is a “shock ending,” but unlike the original is an ending that makes no sense whatsoever (even though it’s lifted from the ending of the original Pierre Boulle novel). This “reinvention” is typical of the kind of mindless, substance free entertainment that gets produced today by Hollywood. For those who want to see a more literate, yet equally fun sci-fi movie, the original is still highly recommended.
[Average / 2]
…As a movie, Planet of the Apes definitely holds your attention. And the art direction is excellent (except that the Apes’ medieval village looks suspiciously like Whoville) If you loved the original of course, you may not care for this one. But at least, it mixes up the plot enough to keep it fresh. And that may be the one thing that will offend some Christians. In addition to the evolution-based plot, this version adds a touch of holy-roller Ape religion. The big gorillas (played interestingly by African-Americans) are the more-devout-than-average believers in Semos, the first ape who promised to return at the end of the age.
Of course, the educated with-it apes like Ari don’t swallow that stuff for a minute. And in the end we find the gorillas’ scripture-based faith is nothing but wishful thinking. Of course, Ari admits, truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. Will her grandchildren ever believe, she ponders, the story of the human who descended from the heavens and brought salvation to an enslaved humanity? Nah, that stuff only happens in fairy tales. Or does it?
[Average / 3½]
Also, there is a twist thrown in about 2/3 of the way into the movie which I really, really liked. If you saw the movie, you have to know what I mean. The romantic angles in the movie were shoved to the side, and that’s probably a good thing. The pace of the movie was pretty good, as well. I don’t think the action faltered at all, in fact, I thought the movie hit all the right notes with its action sequences. The first one was kind of confusing, which I think was the point. And the last one is the biggest, and the most elaborate, which is something Jurassic Park 3 should’ve done. A very enjoyable movie, one of the summer’s best.
[Better than Average / 4]
Additionally, there is much transparent anti-slavery posturing to remind us of the evil perpetrated against African-Americans amidst dinner table discussions as to whether humans have a soul: the kind of conversation that some well-educated whites had in the 19th century regarding their slaves. The evolution/anti-racism party line is repeated throughout the film as Ari asserts that humans can learn to be like apes if given an opportunity. Other characters mention evolution in contrast to the religious ignorance of apes like Krull (Ari’s guardian) and Attar (the evil Thade’s assistant). For example, Krull demonstrates a benighted, Inquisition-like mentality when he destroys Davidson’s blaster because he considers it to be “sorcery.” Davidson (Wahlberg) replies: “Science, not sorcery.”
For his part, Attar worships at a candle-lit shrine which contains the likeness of an ape, raising the implicit comparison that Man worships a god made in his own image as well. When caught, the humans are branded with a symbol which is a thinly-veiled cross, although the bar is bent upward at both ends to disguise the obvious symbolism. The symbol does double-duty: it is the mark of the civil slavery from which the humans must be set free; but also it represents the slavery of false belief (i.e., Christianity) from which the apes must be set free. During the climactic battle at movie’s end, a deus ex machina descends from the heavens and accomplishes both purposes, exposing both the ape creation myth and the inferiority of the humans as a lie which the distortion of history (represented metaphorically by an electric storm in the cosmos) has effected. Burton’s ironic touches are scattered throughout the film.
For instance, Leo Davidson (the Lion of Judea + “David’s son” = Jesus) arrives on the planet to “save” the humans from their enslavement, while a genetically-altered chimp (for the benefit of the animals-are-people-too crowd) flies his own spacecraft to a safe landing on the planet and is accepted by the apes as Simos (note the consonant-vowel similarity to “Jesus”) and the Second Coming. Attar, abruptly loses his faith when he sees that Simos is an inferior chimp. Leo informs him of Thade’s deception in perpetrating the myth of apes as the proto-species and in a matter of minutes the apes are blithely converted to scientific atheism while the humans are saved from the bondage of their ignorance and savagery.
In one of the film’s paradoxical moments, Burton casts the NRA’s Charlton Heston as the evil Thade’s (Tim Roth) father who has known all along that humans preceded apes and the symbol of human superiority is a gun preserved for thousands of years. To summarize, the movie is relatively inoffensive: it is not good enough art to be disturbing, nor is it coherent enough in its message to damage anyone’s faith. Still, one should see it for what it is and not be deceived by this or any other ideological entertainment.
[Average / 3]
There are plenty of animal gestures added (you know) for realism. The language and some of the sexual aspects are tame. Overall, the film is the usual disturbing mixed bag that we would expect from the nightmare mind of Tim Burton. Can we over look the more than subtle assault on our beliefs? How about some implied bestiality thrown into the story? What do you think? Try explaining this to your kids…
My Ratings: [Very Offensive / 4]