Rating of
2/4
"Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 12/30/11
The son of Cornelius and Zira is separated from his protector and confronts a world where apes have been trained to do menial labour for the human race in slavery and promotes bloody insurrection amongst his kind. The third sequel to the classic Planet Of The Apes was butchered by the studio for its theatrical release no doubt because a nervous establishment weren't too happy at the sight of bloody revolution in the name of civil rights in the USA of the early 1970s. Much of the violence ended up on the cutting room floor and a terrible "and they all lived happily ever after" alternate ending was cheaply tacked on, essentially gutting the entire message of the story. In its original form, Conquest is a stirring story of bigotry, cruelty and fascism overthrown by civil disobedience and it contains some great moments of poignant dialogue and political argument. Unfortunately, thanks to the small budget and weak, TV standard direction it concentrates on its weaknesses instead of its strengths making for a finale that's little more than a gang of men in monkey suits running around hitting each other with sticks. The new prequel, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes actually takes the seeds of the story and make much better use of them and so although this is an interesting period piece the new film is far more worthy of your time.
