Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)

Genre

Action | Sci-Fi

Director

J. Lee Thompson

Country

USA

Cast

Roddy McDowall, Claude Akins, Natalie Trundy, Severn Darden, Lew Ayres, Paul Williams, Austin Stoker, Noah Keen, Richard Eastham, France Nuyen, Paul Stevens, John Huston

Storyline

After conquering the Earth, Caesar (Roddy McDowall) wants the ruling apes and enslaved humans to live in peace. But warring factions of apes led by a militant gorilla general (Claude Akins) as well as various human groups threaten the stability.

Opinion

After a few not so good entries, the original Ape series has finally come to an end with "Battle for the Planet of the Apes", a terrible film that easily classifies as the worst film in the series.

Once again the filmmakers decided to continue the storyline of the previous film. But unlike the previous film though, this one actually has a plot. Sure, it isn't great, and doesn't add anything to the series, but after all it is a decent story with a little potential.

I bet you're wondering why I told you this is the worst entry, well, simply because the way the story is told is awful. It doesn't meet the standards of the previous films - even though I wasn't enthusiastic about those films, at least they knew how to tell a story -, rather it feels like a cheap television film that doesn't make a lot of sense.

Also, while "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes" made you root for apes killing humans - I know, it's crazy -, this one is so uninteresting you couldn't care less about what happens to those characters that lives in the City of the Apes, or maybe I should say Village of the Apes. And since I mentioned them, now I have to talk about the villain. The name's Aldo, he is a gorilla general, and the worst part is that he is labeled as the bad guy since the first scene.

And it does get worse. The makeup and visual effect look stupid and cheap, the music is just terrible, and the acting is just painful. Nobody seems to be making some effort to give decent performance, with the exception of Roddy McDowall, he does a good job as Caesar.