(This review was originally written in July 2014. It's no longer the summer.)
We're onto the eighth Planet
of the Apes film. By
this point, one might expect something along the lines of Jason
Takes Manhattan, or The
Muppets Wizard of Oz. Well,
hopefully it's not making too much of a leap to say high-numbered sequels are
becoming a lot better than they used to be (although I'm sure stuff like Fast
and Furious and a
prospective 6th and 7th Die
Hard films shall
trample on my argument.) But this and X-Men: Days of Future Past prove there can be originality, great
acting and CGI, and interesting themes to consider and frankly pure
entertainment, even as the 7th/8th instalment in each franchise.
There's lots of ideas squashed together here. You have the utopian ape society of trees, in San Francisco of all places, where apes are beginning to learn human concepts, evoking Battle; the beginnings of fire and revolution, with apes as cavalry on horseback, evoking Conquest. There's a little bit of everything here, but I think overall it makes for a more complex version of the 'prequel/sequels' of the 1970s (which rely on the conceit of a future which arises through time travel.) The soundtrack places us right in the mindset of 1968's Planet, with the familiar beat reused here to show the decrepit state of modern human civilisation.
What's great about this film is that there are shades to both ape and man, that there is no uniformity in revolution and ideas; man and ape are not as apart as we think they are. To put it another way, this is an A-Level version of History compared to a GCSE version of History. Caesar favours cohabitance, with a 'line in the sand' between the trees and SF, so as to not incite war and death; other apes would rather prove supremacy by claiming the human areas. We see man as militaristic, but we also see through our protagonists (who unwittingly spark further revolution) that humanity is also caring and wants to provide help; all they are asking for is power so they can live in peace. The revolution which erupts comes from misunderstanding and conflicting needs, and the manipulation of a pro-war, rather than pacifistic, ape.
I definitely get the sense of the idea that war is eternal and inevitable; quite a Marxist idea, sure. Humanity is built on conflict and, by extension, the apes are inherently built on humanity. They begin to resemble early humanity, building tribal communities who communicate not by word (only leaders do so) but by sign language. I was impressed with X-Men: First Class that we were given 7 minutes of subtitled German, and Fox's Dawn impresses me with subtitled ape. It's that step towards realism which I love. It's preposterous for a species to learn the OED in a decade, but non-verbal communication makes perfect sense. In a heartwarming scene the teenage son, Alex, reads the graphic novel Black Hole to an ape, showing the importance of semiotics to learning culture; in another scene they flick through his misplaced sketch book. Heck, their community is even built around a hydroelectric dam, one of the plot points of the film. They confiscate guns from humanity but end up falling to warfare themselves; the fights between ape and ape are because of human intervention. Basically, kids, don't use guns, because you'll be fucked if you do. In the end, the hinted intervention of human military wins over and the death of humanity is assured.
Rise set a good precedent with James Franco (seen here on a video camera, still with minimal battery power in 2021), and this continues that. Honestly though, I wouldn't want to see a sequel. Well, maybe one more. This film adds greater complexity to both the last film and the rest of the franchise, but where would one go from here? I'm sure a sequel is on the cards already, but we know that Planet is the next step. Maybe a film with no human cast at all? A film of war entirely, compared to this film being the inciting event? I'm happy with these two films as my prequels, though. It's great to see the franchise still going strong though, 46 years later.
The friend I saw it with said he'd have preferred to see Transformers: Age of Extinction. I wanted to smack him in the face. Seriously, this is the sequel to see this summer.
There's lots of ideas squashed together here. You have the utopian ape society of trees, in San Francisco of all places, where apes are beginning to learn human concepts, evoking Battle; the beginnings of fire and revolution, with apes as cavalry on horseback, evoking Conquest. There's a little bit of everything here, but I think overall it makes for a more complex version of the 'prequel/sequels' of the 1970s (which rely on the conceit of a future which arises through time travel.) The soundtrack places us right in the mindset of 1968's Planet, with the familiar beat reused here to show the decrepit state of modern human civilisation.
What's great about this film is that there are shades to both ape and man, that there is no uniformity in revolution and ideas; man and ape are not as apart as we think they are. To put it another way, this is an A-Level version of History compared to a GCSE version of History. Caesar favours cohabitance, with a 'line in the sand' between the trees and SF, so as to not incite war and death; other apes would rather prove supremacy by claiming the human areas. We see man as militaristic, but we also see through our protagonists (who unwittingly spark further revolution) that humanity is also caring and wants to provide help; all they are asking for is power so they can live in peace. The revolution which erupts comes from misunderstanding and conflicting needs, and the manipulation of a pro-war, rather than pacifistic, ape.
I definitely get the sense of the idea that war is eternal and inevitable; quite a Marxist idea, sure. Humanity is built on conflict and, by extension, the apes are inherently built on humanity. They begin to resemble early humanity, building tribal communities who communicate not by word (only leaders do so) but by sign language. I was impressed with X-Men: First Class that we were given 7 minutes of subtitled German, and Fox's Dawn impresses me with subtitled ape. It's that step towards realism which I love. It's preposterous for a species to learn the OED in a decade, but non-verbal communication makes perfect sense. In a heartwarming scene the teenage son, Alex, reads the graphic novel Black Hole to an ape, showing the importance of semiotics to learning culture; in another scene they flick through his misplaced sketch book. Heck, their community is even built around a hydroelectric dam, one of the plot points of the film. They confiscate guns from humanity but end up falling to warfare themselves; the fights between ape and ape are because of human intervention. Basically, kids, don't use guns, because you'll be fucked if you do. In the end, the hinted intervention of human military wins over and the death of humanity is assured.
Rise set a good precedent with James Franco (seen here on a video camera, still with minimal battery power in 2021), and this continues that. Honestly though, I wouldn't want to see a sequel. Well, maybe one more. This film adds greater complexity to both the last film and the rest of the franchise, but where would one go from here? I'm sure a sequel is on the cards already, but we know that Planet is the next step. Maybe a film with no human cast at all? A film of war entirely, compared to this film being the inciting event? I'm happy with these two films as my prequels, though. It's great to see the franchise still going strong though, 46 years later.
The friend I saw it with said he'd have preferred to see Transformers: Age of Extinction. I wanted to smack him in the face. Seriously, this is the sequel to see this summer.
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