THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
At the time of the 70s, I don’t think anyone expected the origin of the apocalypse be displayed through the film franchise that is Planet of the Apes. That opinion changed when the events of Escape paved the way for said reality to be portrayed.
PLOT
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes follows Caesar, formerly named Milo, the adolescent son of intelligent chimpanzees Cornelius & Zira who died protecting him. Since 1973, he has grown up raised by Señor Armando in his circus. The apocalypse has slowly begun due to a space borne disease wiping out cats & dogs in 1983, leading to apes being used for slave labor. The story’s present begins in 1991 where Caesar tries to keep a low profile by not speaking in public, knowing the government. Sadly, he slips when shouting ‘Lousy human bastards’ to officers beating down a gorilla. Armando defuses the situation by taking responsibility of the insult. Before being taken away, he instructs his adopted son to hide among the apes for safety. He listens and sneaks into an orangutan cage that takes him to an auction where he would be purchased by Governor Breck and put to work by his chief aide, an African American who is an open sympathizer to all apes’ current predicament due to his past heritage. Armando gets questioned by Inspector Kolp (Severn Darden) of Caesar’s as he suspects him to be the child of the apes who came from the future. He almost gets to intense interrogation through the device known as the ‘Authenticator’ where he’d have to tell the truth of Caesar. Not wanting to reveal his son’s whereabouts, he jumps out a window and takes his life. When Caesar overhears of this, he lets go of his faith in human kindness and secretly starts teaching other apes combat, as well as gather weapons. Once Breck deduces Caesar is hiding as a slave, he brings him for electronic torture until they can make him speak and confirm suspicion. When he does, Breck orders for his execution but that gets halted when MacDonald frees him from torture. Once free, Caesar leads his ape revolt against Ape Management in which they slay many riot control officers and drag Breck to public execution. Macdonald pleads for him to show mercy, but the new ape leader chooses to ignore. The unrated edition reveals Caesar to allow the apes to pummel Breck to death, but the theatric edition shows a female chimp named Lisa (Natalie Trundy) speak ‘No’ for the first time, ending the film as Caesar spares his life and declares victory.
PLOT
I did enjoy Escape very much, but I didn’t think we needed to keep going after that. However, we’re at a point where we got to see how the roles reversed between humans and apes and boy was this an interesting fallout. Writer Paul Kehn and Director J Lee Thompson definitely push more boundaries than what’s already done before and set the course of impending doom with impressive execution. The makeup done for the apes is still solid enough for me to be invested and the production design was very creative with the ape prison. Due to everyone discovering how the future would become through Escape, we had to see a perspective where they did it to themselves and that is exactly what we got. Seeing this fallout isn’t just the blueprint of what the rebooted saga follows, but also another reminder of consequences that can occur when oppressing those that are different and shows the inspiration of how one can be a better leader than the predecessor. This is what is told thanks to another batch of interesting characters. After previously Cornelius, Roddy MacDowall returns as Caesar and carries the spirit of his birth parents of being a curious and open minded individual. That gets put to test when confronted with discrimination that puts him through so much pain inside and out. Growing up, salvation is all he wants and it becomes challenging to get it when sees one side of the coin more than the other when it comes to human behavior. He seems to lean into that path in the theatric cut when sparing Breck in the end because he feels that’s what his parents would’ve done. Had the unrated cut been canon, he wouldn’t be any better than him. Either way, he accepts destiny as a leader and he does his best in being a good one if not great. Seeing the dilemma he goes through gives the right amount of inspiration that’d be shown in a much different Caesar in the rebooted saga. This story’s Caesar is in such a dilemma in the first place because he’s seen more bad than good, but the good was effective enough to make him hesitant on moments that would define him. Ricardo Montalbán made a real one out Armando because he was able to protect Caesar in more ways than one. With his work in the circus making him take care of so many animals, it was easy for him to look after him after Escape because he knew he wouldn’t survive on his own. The human world is just as much of a jungle as it is with deserts and rainforests animals come from, so the danger was everywhere and he knew he wouldn’t be harmed under his care. Sadly, he wasn’t able to protect him forever as he had to die doing so. With his death triggering the ape’s rebellion, you just wish things were done differently. That statement was felt when focusing on MacDonald because he’s dealt with prejudice in his lifetime and knows acting radically doesn’t make it better. He knows how angry Caesar and the apes feel but is aware their reaction won’t defuse the situation the way they wish. He tells Caesar to be merciful because it’s the only part of humanity he’d have left if sparing Breck. While it’s impressive to see him show restraint, but it’s still too late anyway. Of course, doesn’t even make it this far without one too blind of his actions. Don Murray makes Breck an amplified version of Hasslein where it’s his prejudice that worsens the situation rather than create solution. He’s living out of fear because he doesn’t want to be primitive, so he believes making apes fear him prevents the inevitable outcome. Thankfully, his reign of terror is stopped by one who has more of a common sense compared to him. This film ain’t so bad, but there’s still a few moments that could’ve been done better. Going from the top, why does Armando come off like he’s the only one running a circus? Cats & dogs may have been wiped out but it ain’t like they’d be circus headliners. I mean I’m sure other ideal animals like bears and elephants are involved the way Caesar was. On top of that, there shouldn’t be any way for Caesar to be the only ape to be part of a circus act because that can be ideal slave labor for this timeline. Moving on, why force fields for the ape prison? I don’t mind being futuristic but it doesn’t look efficient if invisible. Like a guard could walk into it on accident. And lastly, no security were confused one chimp was shipped with orangutans? That’s dumber than stormtroopers having terrible aim. However, this films remains fine for what it is if you can ignore all said flaws. In short, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes is another solid sci fi flick for maintaining the creative vibe of its dynamic atmosphere. If you enjoyed the previous films, I hope you like this one as well.
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