For decades now, one franchise above all the others has remained consistent in being popular with movie-goers as well as reflecting the culture of the time of each film's release. With the exception of Tim Burton's awful remake. I am obviously speaking about the Planet of the Apes franchise, one of the oldest franchises in cinema. The films have constantly sought to bring fun and action its audiences as well as offering some deep social commentary in regards what is actually happening in our society. In my opinion, even the older film's remain relevant to this day. I believe that their messages can be applied to the modern day quite flawlessly and that is why I believe that this is a franchise that will always stand testament to the power of cinema.
Firstly, the original film is one of the greatest science fiction movies ever made and its sequels certainly tried to strive to that level with hits and misses along the way. The first film presented movie-goers with this freaky alien world on which apes hunted humans for sport and had a society all of their own not dissimilar to ours. The apes were intelligent and men were mere savages. The film followed Charlton Heston's astronaut character, Taylor, as he tries to figure out why exactly the apes are supreme on this planet and also find a way home. This quest brings him to one of the most chilling and memorable film endings of all time.
The film's bleak and shocking ending presented its audience with a question to which there was only one answer. What happened? The answer: nuclear war. The film was released at a time when nuclear war was a strong and incredibly terrifying possibility the world over. This film basically presented us a world in which nuclear war had brought about man's downfall and their own extinction. Even now, nuclear war remains a possibility yet we seem to associate it with the past. This film's ending may in fact lie in our world's future. And how frightening a thought that is.
The second film, though nowhere near as good as the first, offers another glaring look at humanity. In this movie, the mutated remnants of mankind live underground in the ruins of what was once New York. Here, they worship an atomic bomb, powerful enough to destroy the entire planet. Meanwhile, the apes march into the forbidden zone, declaring war on anything that may lie beyond their borders. We see a group of young apes protesting as the war march begins. An obvious reflection of the hippy movement of the time and the strong anti-war opinions of the younger generation. However, it is mankind's worshipping of the bomb that brings the most relevance to this movie. If taken at a more subliminal level as the state we see is rather exaggerated, we get the idea that modern man worships weaponry, the stronger the weaponry, the more we worship it. Even today after the Arms Race of the Cold War era, everything in the modern world revolves around who has the bigger, better guns. The films ends on an even bleaker and far more disastrous note than its predecessor. The entire Earth is destroyed by this bomb of man's construction and it is man who detonates it. The film's message is clear; if we do not stop idolising weaponry we will bring about our own downfall. That is truer today than it ever has been.
The third instalment in the franchise is by far its weakest link in my opinion although the social commentary is still present in this film as much as the other two. The primary idea that I find this film to present is that mankind will do anything to change its future, just as long as they don't have to change themselves. We see the characters of Cornelius and Zera travel back in time after escaping the future destruction of Earth. Then, with their newborn baby, being hunted mercilessly by man in order to prevent the apes from ever rising to power over humans. It's made quite clear in this film that mankind has the capacity to be good and to change themselves for the better, securing thir future. However, despite this being shown, we see that man will stop at nothing to end the possibility of his downfall, even if it means murdering innocents. That's very applicable to today's society. Wars are being fought for no reason other than to get land and oil with civilians are being caught in the crossfire. The security of our future seems to rely more on making room and gaining power than co-existing as a species.
Conquest is easily my favourite of the original franchise next to the first film. This movie finally shows the downfall of man, not brought on by nuclear war, but in his inability to show compassion. We see Caesar, the son of Cornelius and Zera, rise to power as a militant and revolutionary ape, tired of the way humans enslave apes and treat them like filth. The film is highly reflective of the Civil Rights movement and the riots associated with that. Today, with police murdering people in the streets and civilians using violent protest to show their anger towards the establishment, I find the images of revolution in this film to be highly reflective of recent events in Ferguson. The original ending showed the apes brutally murdering Breck, a figurehead of the ape oppression side of things. This was thought to be too violent and was changed to show Caesar showing remorse for Breck and letting him live, then going on to make a speech about peaceful co-existence. Luckily, the internet now exists and you can watch a low quality version of the original ending by clicking here!
Battle, despite it's downsized budget, manages to slate itself firmly as one of the better films of the franchise though the small budget does affect it somewhat. In this movie, some humans are attempting to live peacefully with the apes while others live in the ruins of New York after a nuclear war that occurred off screen. These humans are still fighting for human dominance and they are in the majority, again showing mankind's struggle to survive against all odds and remain superioir, rather than survival by co-existence. At the same time, a gorrilla named Aldo believes Caesar to be an ineffective and docile leader. Caesar's son overhears Aldo plotting to kill his father and Aldo murders the boy. This breaks the greatest tenet of the apes, Ape shall never kill Ape. When this is discovered after the humans are defeated by the apes, Caesar and Aldo climb a tree and the most anti-climactic ending ever occurs as Caesar pushes Aldo to his death. The film focuses on the struggle of survival on both sides, yet the constant theme of man refusing to let go of his pride and co-exist in unison with another species remains ever-prevalent.
I'll offer my thoughts on Rise and Dawn in the same section here as they focus less on the grand scheme of things and more on the character of Caesar and who he is. The last two Apes movies have been character pieces above all else and yet, they convey the same tone and messages that the previous films did. That theme of man being a cruel species incapable of compassion and peace remains while we see the Apes easily rise above that and become their own very quickly. Rise saw Caesar mature into the strong and decisive leader he needed to be while Dawn saw him struggle with that role and still show strength by overcoming the obstacles with the help of humans. The new films present the idea of peaceful co-existence as something that would be so easy to achieve if it weren't for fear. The main enemy of peace is fear in these movies and I expect that will be a very strong aspect of the next movie and any others that follow.
The apes franhise has secured its place in the annals of film history and will no doubt be a cause for much thought over the coming decades as issues presented in the originals begin to appear in our modern society and these new films evolve to tell the story of Caesar and still retain the social commentary for which the originals were so critically acclaimed. What do you think of the apes franchise? Do you think it's as immortal and universal now as it ever was or do you believe that it will one day lose all relevance? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section below.