Planet of the Apes (1968)

I am such a sucker for old science fiction movies. They’re all so great. TRON, Logan’s Run, Westworld, 2001: A Space Odyssey, King Kong, I love them all. And forget we shall not, one of the arguably most iconic ones, Planet of the Apes. With the series reboot Rise of the Planet of the Apes out in theaters, I decided to catch at least one of the originals before seeing it with my friends tonight. And I was making sure that I finished my review before I saw it. I saw this movie almost a week ago, I’ve just been lazy and my computer keeps crashing this week. So, I’m sorry, but…yeah. It’s here now. This movie is a classic. It is a feat of science fiction, and is downright amazing. Even watching it over 40 years later, I’m still entranced. But, completely, every single Planet of the Apes movie depends on one thing-suspension of disbelief. And lots of movies require this. But only the good movies get it. Looking back at the movie Hop, the biggest thing that I didn’t like about it was that it just didn’t make any sense. Things would pop out of nowhere, and it was just convoluted. And, down to the basic core of it, so is Planet of the Apes. But the difference between the two boils down to one thing-whether or not the film actually gives you a reason for suspending your disbelief. And where Hop didn’t, Planet of the Apes does. For starters, its plot is pretty dang epic. The movie follows three astronauts (there was a fourth one, a woman, but in space flight, where her bed was had a small leak in it…and…yeah…she’s dead) who land on a distant planet where apes are the dominant race and humans are used as pets. The main astronaut, Taylor (played by Charlton Heston), is thrown in a cage with other humans. He is smarter than the other humans (who can’t even speak), and is on the intelligence level of the apes that are controlling him. From there, we get apes that are actually not cold-hearted monkeys (pun intended), some decently awesome special effects, and the single most stunning shot in a film since we figured out what ‘Rosebud’ was. And yes, the special effects are extremely good. Well, I need to rephrase that. The special effects in this film are outstanding for 1968. They are amazing for 1978. They are great for 1988. They are good for 1998. And if they were in an indie film today, it would pass. It would pass, and it would be good. It’s kind of amazing that a movie from 1968 can still have this kind of value today. On my wish list, I have the entire series on Blu-ray. So one day I will buy it, and then get to watch all of the others. And you can find that wish list at…just kidding. I’m not going to mooch off of my readers. Well, not yet at least. Where was I? Oh yeah. Watch this movie.
8.5/10