Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) Review

"Ape has killed ape!"



Years after the 4th movie, a nuclear war has destroyed most of civilization.  A group of apes and humans, led by Caesar (Roddy McDowall), live in the wilderness with the humans being treated as second class citizens.  As a group of armed humans approach, Caesar's leadership is challenged by a violent gorilla, Aldo (Claude Akins), with deadly results.


What Works:

Just like every other time he's in this series, Roddy McDowall is great.  He makes Caesar such a likable protagonist that no matter how bad the rest of the movie is, you are still rooting for him.

Claude Akins also does a good job as the main antagonist.  He has an excellent screen presence and feels like a legitimate threat to Caesar's leadership.

Lew Ayres only has a few scenes in the movie as the guardian of the armory, Mandemus.  Whenever someone comes to get guns from the armory, he grills them on what their intentions are and determines how many guns they get, if any.  The best scene in the movie occurs when Caesar shows up to get some guns from him.  It's a hilarious and well-written scene and I wish we had gotten more from this character.


What Sucks:

The biggest problem with Battle is that it's boring.  Caesar takes a group into the destroyed city, discover a group of mutant humans, who follow them back to launch an attack on the apes all while a rebellion stirs within Caesar's ranks.  Sounds exciting, right?  Nope.  It's executed in the least interesting way possible.  The action scenes are dull, the mutants are disappointing, and the story just isn't engaging.

The budget was decreased for this film and it's very obvious.  There aren't very many background extra apes to fill the scene, which makes the movie feel very small-scale, but it's not supposed to be.  This is the battle for the Planet of the Apes.  It should be grand.  Epic.  It isn't. 

The final battle between Caesar and Aldo is extremely lame.  They climb up a tree and Caesar knocks him out of it and Aldo dies.  That's it.  It's a ton of build-up for a supremely lackluster payoff.

Finally, the reason why I like this series so much is their exploration of interesting themes and philosophies.  Battle has none of that.  It's very straightforward and dull with its narrative.   There's nothing new or interesting here.


Verdict:

Battle for the Planet of the Apes is hands-down the worst in the series.  McDowall, Akins, and Ayres do a good job, but the movie is boring, cheap, anticlimactic, and lacking the interesting themes of the previous films.  Just skip this one if you feel like watching the series.  Nothing here is worth your time.

 3/10: Really Bad  

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