Beneath the Planet of the Apes

MOVIE REVIEW OF Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) G

Cast
Director	ted post	Runtime: 1hrs 35min ( 95min)
brent	.....	james franciscus
zira	.....	kim hunter
dr. zaius	.....	maurice evans
nova	.....	linda harrison
mendez	.....	paul richards
fat man	.....	victor buono
ursus	.....	james gregory
caspay	.....	jeff corey
albina	.....	natalie trundy
minister	.....	thomas gomez
cornelius	.....	david watson
ongaro	.....	don pedro colley
skipper	.....	tod andrews
verger	.....	gregory sierra
gorilla sergeant	.....	eldon burke
lucius	.....	lou wagner
taylor	.....	charlton heston

PLOT SUMMARY

It is the year 3955, and Taylor (Charlton Heston) from the original film has been captured and held by the growing civilization of highly evolved apes on what we now know to be the planet Earth. A two man rescue ship has been sent in his path to find and return him. One of the two men dies shortly after landing on the planet, and the survivor, Brent (James Franciscos), is left to complete the mission alone.

Complications ensue when Brent finds the apes in total war mode and a secret deadly weapon pops up in the hands of the humans, who consider even Brent and Taylor to be enemies of them.

TECH INSPECTION

The plot of this installment of the Planet of the Apes franchise begins on the road to success for this critic. Throughout the movie, the story builds, as it should, in plot and character, although most characters have already been established from the original movie. The suspense builds and continues right up until the climax of the movie. And then...it just dies. Right there in front of you. The resolution lasts no more than a half-minute. Then the final credits run with no audio accompaniment. You have to have the credits or else you might not realize that the movie is actually over. One of the worst endings I have seen for any movie, good or bad.

A small, but key, point at the end of the movie lies in a group of clear to lightly colored crystals used to manipulate the chief weapon of the humans. These crystals are suspiciously similar to those possessed and used by Clark Kent in the movie Superman.

Just like so many other sequels to so many other highly successful movies, I find Beneath the Planet of the Apes to be a huge disappointment. Two reasons take credit as the major contributing factors in this opinion. First is the extremely weak ending to what had potential as a very good story. The second is the absence of Roddy McDowall as Cornelius. Fortunately, he returns in the other three iterations. Yay!

QUOTES
Finally, a short list of quotes I think are worth repeating. You may recognize some, but these are my own picks, not ones that are particularly famous:

• And you shall have it, Doctor Zaius, or I shall hit her again. ~ Cornelius
• You bloody bastard! ~ Taylor

Here is my personal rating of this movie. This rating is out of ten meows.
⁷/₁₀

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