This is the sequel to the original "Planet of the Apes". James Franciscus is a suitable replacement for Charlton Heston. He plays Brent, an astronaut sent to find Heston's Taylor. He finds him alright, along with some angry apes and some even stranger mutants. Actually, this movie has more action than the first, but it's not nearly as smart or as good.
Most of the movie concerns Brent, who is constantly being chased by the apes. But once our hero goes beneath the planet, this thing switches to an all-out, heavy-handed (or ham-fisted) anti-war statement. And that's fine except that the message is delivered with all the subtlety and grace of a sledge hammer.
The first encounter with the apes is pretty impressive. There look to be dozens and dozens of actors in ape suits. It appears that they spent a lot of time and effort on the opening shots of "Ape City". That is until you get a closer look at the ape masks. They are terrible! Well terrible and funny at the same time. I also cracked up when a few of the ape leaders are discussing strategy in a sauna! The attempt at full body ape makeup was hilarious.
Later, Brent meets up with Taylor in the underground city of the mutants. This is when the movie goes entirely off-the-rails. And the ending...you talk about abrupt. I just sat there with my mouth open. It just...ends. And ends with what is possibly the most downbeat conclusion in the history of Movies. I have to give it an extra point for that.
Quite a far way off its predecessor, even if 'Beneath the Planet of the Apes' is still a good film.
Charlton Heston reportedly wasn't initially interested in returning for a sequel, though, to his credit, did in the end return briefly to tie up his character's loose end - and apparently even gave his fee to charity. That's why we don't see much of him here, which is a shame but given the aforementioned it came out well enough.
James Franciscus takes over from Heston and does a fine job, the latter is definitely the better of the two but Franciscus is passable. Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans and Linda Harrison do return, though the first two basically play second fiddle to others - including newcomer James Gregory's bunch of characters; Gregory is solid, fwiw. As for the film's other parts, make-up etc., it's basically the same as the original. The plot even feels similar for a fair chunk of this production, though it eventually goes its own way.
I'm even more interested to check out the subsequent sequels, given the ending to this 1970 film was apparently intended - by those on the ground, so to speak - to be the final entry; the studio evidently wasn't in agreement.
Prefer this to the original. I don't really like Charlton Heston, think he's an awful actor. Plus more Nova.
It's weird how all four sequels were made within a year of each other, yet at least two of them tried something new. Beneath came two years after the original yet has a rehashed "in it for the money" feel all the way through, right down to its abrupt, slightly unsatisfactory climax. Yet despite the many, many faults I've levelled at it, Beneath the Planet of the Apes is still a very enjoyable film. Not in the sense of the first, which genuinely had something to say, but in the guise of pulp SF then this sequel is well worth seeing.
It is difficult for me to rank this movie, from my point of view its a boring sequel but I also think its a good movie with an original premise, it was interesting watch but the weakest of the entire planet of the apes franchise.
Not anywhere near as sharp or well crafted as the original- and two movies in Nova still isn’t an actual character- but it’s even more cynical in a way I can respect. It takes the pessimistic worldview of the first movie and takes it even further. Evolved humans and ape are equally cruel, equally foolish, equally arrogant. It is in both their natures to destroy, and to covet their tools of destruction, and there’s only one way that ends. It’s a great theme, and the ending is very daring. As cheesy as the effects are, the bleeding Lawgiver and the nuclear shrine are excellent setpieces and very striking.
But as much as I like some of the weird sci fi, it’s not pulled off well enough to make up for how jarring it is compared to the first film and how it set itself apart from sci fi like this. I like the idea of the mutants, but they don’t ever feel as realized as the apes. Ureses never fully coalesces either. The first half is a pretty middling retread of what came before. Brent is just Taylor again but less realized in character and performance. Heston outshines him in the smallest moments like his delivery of ‘why not?’ and his last moments with Zaius. Zaius refusing to show empathy even at the end of all things is what dooms them all, proving Taylor’s nihilism from the very first scene of the first movie correct. For all its faults, this is an ambitious, pessimistic movie that lives up to the original’s legacy even if it doesn’t match it.
A new lead character is introduced that looks identical to Taylor, why? He even goes through the same stuff Taylor went through in the first, it's all a rehash of stuff we've already seen. After 45 minutes we finally get to some new stuff and it was interesting for a moment but ultimately doesn't have much to say. Why is Nova still in this one if they're not giving her anything to do? She's just there, silent and useless. We lose most of the visual flair and cinematography the first had, not bad by any means, just average. Some character deaths that mean nothing. Weird ending but i'm somehow curious to see what happens in the next one.
2/10
Terrible and absolutely
Piss-poor.
How can they fcuk up this bad from the Great number one 2 years previously.
What a pointless boring entry, just plain weird and not in a good way.
No wonder old Charlie boy wanted as little to do with this miserable installment.
This was bad and I mean really bad to the point it should have never been made.
They tried to go all
Star Trek TOS
And failed in epic fashion.
Didn't enjoy this installment at all,
It was like a dog chasing It's own tail round and round we go and getting nowhere fast.
They tried so many new elements
And none of it worked.....at all.
What
An absolute Shit-Show this one was.
Beneath the Planet of the Apes, while lacking the craft of the original, is a fairly good sci-fi drama. The story follows Brent, an astronaut sent to rescue Taylor, who ends up marooned on the same planet, but is taken captive by human mutants who live in the Forbidden Zone. James Franciscus, Linda Harrison, James Gregory, and Kim Hunter lead the cast and give solid performances. However, the poor effects hinder the film, and (with the mystery of the planet already having been revealed in the original) it’s hard to recreate the same suspense again. Still, the writers find an interesting place to take the story and expand the mythology. Yet ultimately, Beneath the Planet of the Apes fails to live up to one first film, and instead delivers a mediocre (though entertaining) sequel.
The film adds new elements with respect to the original film that are neither well linked nor well developed. Failed
Paco Cinema 1: Image 3/5 irregular. Sound 3/5. It has not been bad, better than I expected but less than 1. The final part has not convinced me
Shout by Maarten DelfgouVIP 2BlockedParent2022-04-08T12:02:51Z
1 Original film series
2 Remake film
3 Reboot film series