Planet of the Apes

“This is sort of a spontaneous mini project. I’d had this movie on my watch list for ages, but never put much effort into acquiring it. With the new installment coming out later this summer, there’s a new BluRay collection of the original set of films that included movie cash for the new one. I figured why not. I’d watch the first one, and if I liked it, then I’d watch the next one and so on. I could stop at any time. What I didn’t expect was how much I absolutely loved the first one. I need to know what happens next and get a better understanding of how it all fits together with the prequels. Seeing as how I’m just wrapping up the first round of the movie wall initiative, now’s a good time for a mini project. I’m hoping I can get thru these all in the next two weeks.

My perception of this film was always “”old scifi””. Outdated effects and small plot with over the top actors. I didn’t expect it to be so deep and layered. The initial suspense was pretty cool, but where I was sold was once we started meeting the apes and learning their culture. The parallels with debates still on going today about evolution and science vs religion, I was just not expecting them to go there. I’m surprised that this film doesn’t have a reputation for being controversial because of all that. I suppose that in the day before internet debates you could get away with things. Now, I’m sure trolls would rip it apart.

I’m of two minds about knowing the big twist at the end. It’s on the list of best know spoilers. Hell, it’s included on one of my fave tshirts in a big collage of movie spoilers. On the one hand, it makes the debates and arguments a little more intense (and frustrating for Taylor) knowing how wrong these apes got it. On the other, I can’t even imagine the impact that reveal would have had on the audiences back in the day. It must have been mind blowing.

So great to see Charleton Heston deliver his iconic lines and get the full context of it. I hadn’t realized that there were devolved humans on the planet too, and I was absolutely captivated by Linda Harrison’s Nova. Such expressive looks, all in the eyes. I’m happy to see she continues in the series and am very excited to see her storyline play out.

Oh man, I’m so jazzed about this now!”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *