Zira can have all the grape juice plus. I’ll
take the liquid bread plus. Hey everybody, welcome to Mainely Movies.
Continuing my Planet of the Apes review series, today I’m gonna be talking about the third
film in the franchise, 1971’s sci-fi sequel: Escape from the Planet of the Apes. If you’re
new here, please consider subscribing for a variety of movie-related content like reviews,
ranked lists, and trailer reactions. All of my reviews include a breakdown of the pros
and cons, my rating, and
some tailored film recommendations, so be sure to watch through
to the end of this video for all of that extra content. Escape from the Planet of the Apes
stars Kim Hunter, Roddy McDowall, and Bradford Dillman and was directed by Don Taylor. Set
immediately after Beneath the Planet of the Apes, it tells the story of Zira and Cornelius
as they flee through time and find themselves in 1970s Los Angeles.
Most of the time, films within a franchise will end in a way that sets up for the next
movie. S
ometimes we get a glimpse of where the story’s going, while other times things
are just left open, so there are lots of possibilities. Occasionally, you’ll run across a franchise
installment that leaves you questioning where the series could go from there. And in most
cases, the answer is nowhere - it’s usually the final movie that wraps everything up and
shuts down the possibility of a sequel. Well, Beneath the Planet of the Apes was one of
those types of movies, making this follow up film amon
g the unlikeliest of sequels out
there. Like Planet of the Apes before it, Beneath the Planet of the Apes was a financial
success, so the decision to make a third film was an obvious one. But exactly how to make
a third one? Not so obvious. Without spoiling the specifics of anything, let’s just say
that some plot-based decisions in Beneath the Planet of the Apes had made it impossible
to move forward with the story. So, how did we end up with a sequel? Not by moving forward,
but rather by moving
backwards. More than a rehash, more than a mere reversal, Escape
from the Planet of the Apes is an inversion. This time, Zira, Cornelius, and another apeonaut
journey to the past, traveling to Taylor’s time - to our time - ending up in then modern
day Los Angeles. Now, I realize that this premise might initially
sound a bit uninspired. It might sound like an idea born of pure desperation, and a convoluted
workaround to keep the franchise going. I concede that there’s a bit of unlikely over
conv
enience to get us to the start of this film, but this movie in and of itself is actually
surprisingly good. Like its immediate predecessor, Escape from the Planet of the Apes has a plot
that’s pretty evenly split into two parts. But this time, those two sections of the film
flow a bit more naturally and serve as tonal counterbalances for one another. The first
half of this film focuses on the arrival of the apeonauts. Following a brilliant cold
opening, we watch as the advanced future apes find
themselves in the advanced human-dominated
past. Understandably, both the chimps and humans are startled and confused by this.
But unlike the action intensive and threat filled equivalent story stage in the first
Planet of the Apes movie, things are comparatively calm and entertaining here. There are certainly
some tense moments, but there’s also plenty of humor. As usual, Zira and Cornelius contribute
most of this, and Kim Hunter and Roddy McDowall continue to deliver wonderful performances
and
chemistry. This first half of the movie is quite funny, really leaning into the fish-out-of-water
storyline in a fun way. In fact, with its bouncy music and playful montages featuring
Zira and Cornelius exploring LA, it almost feels like some sort of goofy, offbeat sitcom
at times. But around the halfway point of the film,
the story and tone begin to shift dramatically. This sense of foreboding and genuine threat
begins to creep in and after learning something about Zira’s condition, this omino
us feeling
starts to manifest much more dangerously. The fish-out-of-water fun is very quickly
replaced with frustrating, targeted interrogation and politically-driven committee decisions.
It’s hard to watch because we know and like these characters. We know they’re good people…
apes, so seeing the tables turn so quickly on them and watching them go through the things
they go through is rough. Things take a grim turn during the second half of the film and,
in classic Planet of the Apes fashion,
the movie ends up transitioning into something
incredibly bleak, leaving the audience with a stunned, gut-punched feeling that couldn’t
be any further from the feeling the film gave only an hour before.
As with all the films in the original Planet of the Apes series, Escape from the Planet
of the Apes packs quite the thematic punch. Since the story had made its way to present-day
Earth, the allegorical nature of the story gets toned down quite a bit, but that doesn’t
make this any less impactful
. This movie still touches on themes of classism, racism, and
nuclear war like the previous two films, and it also adds a little environmentalism into
the mix, but it turns its focus more to two other thought-provoking concepts. The first
is the very nature of hypocrisy, as we see humans seeking to condemn the apes for things
they themselves are guilty of. It’s interesting because it takes the allegorical role-reversed
themes of the first film, but makes the characters aware of them too, rather
than just the audience.
Zira has to grapple with the guilt of what she used to do to humans in the name of science,
while the humans in turn have to decide if this is any different from what they currently
do to animals, and more importantly, if Zira and Cornelius should be treated as though
they’re humans or lesser animals. And that ties into the second introduced concept, which
is one of ethics and willingness. It essentially asks, how far would you go in order to ensure
the safety of the dist
ant future? What would you be willing to do? What morals would you
be willing to compromise, if you thought it could maybe make a positive difference? Basically,
do we as humans (at the expense of somebody or something else) have the right to alter
a future, that is itself an uncertainty? With its big tonal shift, this film covers
a lot of ground. Some of it’s a little familiar for the franchise, but most of it feels refreshing,
especially after Beneath the Planet of the Apes. Escape from the Pl
anet of the Apes is
not nearly as action-packed as the first two movies, but it doubles down on the thematic
impact, and quite literally, brings the story home. With a budget only one third that of
the original film’s, the lack of ape extras and futuristic sets was a big help here, so
the makeup for three lead ape characters saw a return to their usual quality. This is a
movie that really hinges on these apes - it absolutely relies on the likability of Zira
and Cornelius. These are two character
s we already enjoy, and have grown to know and
love over the course of the franchise. They’re very sympathetic characters, and by the time
we get to this third movie, we’re invested in them. So obviously, we’re rooting for
them, we naturally take their side every step of the way throughout this film. And this
introduces something kind of interesting into the mix. This film’s villain (or probably
more appropriately, antagonist) certainly goes about doing things in less than reasonable
ways, but h
is logic and reasoning is actually understandable, to a certain extent. He’s
not just some evil mustache-twirling villain who inexplicably hates monkeys. He’s trying
to do what he truly thinks is necessary, which makes the whole thing all the more thought-provoking
and impactful. In a wild way, Escape from the Planet of the Apes is a sequel that ends
up being a sort of backdoor prequel; a self-prophesizing full circle inversion of the franchise.
Alright, let’s talk about the pros and cons. The b
iggest pro is definitely Zira and Cornelius.
I know I’m starting to sound a bit like a broken record here with these chimps popping
up in the pros every time, but they’re really good and easily the best characters the original
series (and maybe the entire franchise) have to offer. After a disappointingly limited
role in Beneath the Planet of the apes, not only are Zira and Cornelius back, but they’re
the main characters. No Taylor, no Brent – this is absolutely their story and they bring all
the
humor, chemistry, and impact we’ve come to expect from them. Kim Hunter is as great
as ever as Zira, somehow managing to increase her eye expressiveness here, and returns from
his brief franchise absence to reprise the role of Cornelius with equal parts humor and
gravitas. The second pro has got to be the premise.
I know it might sound eyerollingly over convenient at first and like a desperate stretch to keep
the franchise going after Beneath the Planet of the Apes, but the resulting story is a
ctually
really interesting. Planet of the Apes presented us with an allegorical role-reversed world
in which intelligent apes ruled the planet. Taking a group of these apes through time
and putting them in the modern-day human-ruled world isn’t just a reversal of this idea,
but an entire inversion of it. It’s got some conceptual similarities to the first
film, but this is far from just a rehash of the story, instead expanding on the ideas
and themes to give us something entirely new. On the con
side, my only real issue is a pretty
minor one and it’s the pacing, specifically towards the end of the second act. This is
right around the time - maybe a little bit after - the film transitions from the fun
fish-out-of-water comedy to the grim interrogation stuff. Even though it’s a bit sudden and
stark, I don’t mind the tonal transition itself, it’s just that everything slows
down a little too much through the section. It stays compelling because we’re invested
in Zira and Cornelius, but it d
oes feel long through this part of the story and things
don’t get particularly exciting again until the final few minutes.
Before I give you my rating and recommendations, I want to remind you that if you're interested
in buying Escape from the Planet of the Apes or any of the films I mentioned today, I do
have affiliate links for all of them in the description below. I get a small commission
from anything you buy using one of my links, so I'd really appreciate if you'd use them
if you're in the
market for any of these movies. I’m going to give Escape from the Planet
of the Apes 3.5 out of 5 paws. This was always my favorite of the original series sequels,
but I have to say, I liked it even more with this recent rewatch, so this is a high 3.5
and I wouldn’t be surprised if this eventually becomes a 4 for me. You have to get past a
few illogicalities to start with, but this movie offers a really interesting inversion
of the Planet of the Apes story, delivering thought-provoking themes a
nd a franchise-best
focus on Zira and Cornelius. I would recommend Escape from the Planet of
the Apes to anybody who liked the original Planet of the Apes movie. This film is technically
one that could stand on its own, but the story and characterization from the first film is
really helpful when coming into this film. This movie certainly switches things up a
bit and is less of a sci-fi adventure than the original movie, so there will definitely
be some franchise fans who don’t enjoy this one,
but if you’re looking for a worthwhile
sequel and don’t feel like wading through all of them, this is probably going to be
your best bet from the original series. If you liked Escape from the Planet of the
Apes, I would recommend Time After Time. This is another interesting 70s sci-fi time travel
story that manages to nicely balance its fish-out-of-water fun with a thrilling race against time. Rather
than a spaceship, author H. G. Wells uses a time machine of his own construction to
chase after
Jack the Ripper, with both men traveling from 1890s London to 1970s San Francisco.
If you want another thought-provoking sci-fi film, you should check out The Day the Earth
Stood Still. This is a thematically-packed story about an alien sent to warn the people
of Earth about the consequences of their nuclear proliferation and current destructive path.
It’s a film full of human paranoia and explores moral relativism in a fairly profound way.
And if you’d prefer something outside of the sci-fi gen
re, you might want to watch
Magnum Force. This second film in Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry film series takes the premise
and many ideas of the first film and reverses them, giving us a non-rehashed story that’s
pretty different. This one still features plenty of action and many quotable lines and,
like Escape from the Planet of the Apes, has an important final scene aboard an abandoned
ship. Alright, a couple questions for you guys.
Number one: Have you seen Escape from the Planet of the Apes? I
f so, what’d you think
of it? And number two: What’s your favorite movie
featuring non-human astronauts? Be sure to leave your answers in the comments
below so we can get a discussion going. Alright, so if you got some enjoyment, insight,
or information out of this review, I’d appreciate it if you’d hit that like button. And, if
you haven’t done so already, please hit subscribe while you’re at it, to see more
videos like this. Till next time, this has been Alyssa with Mainely Movies: The way lif
e
should be.
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