1968's "Planet of the Apes" achieved a win-win for word of mouth and box office with its imaginative plot setting, shocking ending and superb special effects makeup, and the biggest success was to establish itself among science fiction fans and geeks. Another screen classic. As a producer, 20th Century Fox certainly did not miss this opportunity. So in 1970, he launched the second episode of the series "Lost Apes", hoping to use this hot spot to catch up and earn effect bonuses.
Although the box office of "Lost Apes" is not bad, it is not the same as the first in terms of word of mouth. It is an indisputable fact that the sequel has always been difficult to shoot, but the mediocrity of the plot still has to be carried by the screenwriter. Fox first found Pierre Bull, the original author of the novel, to write a sequel. In his draft, the protagonist Taylor led the enslaved humans to rise up and regain control of the earth from the hands of the apes. It was rejected on the grounds of "lack of visual impact and surprise." In the end, Fox approved the script written by associate producer Mott Abrahams and British writer Paul Dern, the most prominent element of which is the nuclear bomb. In all fairness, these two scripts are lack of creativity, perhaps this is the inevitable consequence of the previous too amazing.
In addition, the Oscar actor Charlton Heston, who played the leading role in the previous movie, also had little interest in continuing to participate in the show. Or maybe he only appeared briefly at the beginning and the end. Therefore, in the story of this episode, the protagonist is replaced by another astronaut Brent, who landed on this "planet of the apes" in order to find Taylor, the protagonist of the first episode. Saying that this work is mediocre, the biggest problem is the sense of repetition. Brent’s experience here is similar to Taylor’s. The characters encountered such as the dumb girl Nova, Dr. Chais and Dr. Gila of the ape are all old faces. , To a large extent affect the audience's interest in watching movies.
Of course, "Lost Apes" is not useless. The imaginative point is that the screenwriters have made a foresight of the remaining humans in the film. On the one hand, their faces have become unrecognizable and they have evolved the ability to control the thoughts of others with their minds; on the other hand, the force of the ape tribe It was difficult to advance in front of him, so he could only hide in the underground ruins of New York, linger, and worship a nuclear bomb left by his ancestors. In addition to its bizarre state of existence, this religious enthusiasm for nuclear weapons is undoubtedly a condemnation of the cloud of nuclear war in the world at that time (1960s).
The film’s pungent irony of the real world does not stop there. Ul'thas, the gorilla general among the apes, is a typical example. The apes society in this film is turbulent and turbulent. The gorilla group headed by Ursas symbolizes military and force, while the orangutan and chimpanzee groups represented by Dr. Chais and Dr. Gila are literati. The opinions are extremely divided, and there is no lack of strong persecution among ethnic groups. This is obviously another metaphor for militarism and racism in human society. The nuclear explosion at the end of the film can be regarded as the negative attitude of the screenwriter facing the times. Since there is no solution, it simply exploded.
However, to talk about the biggest contribution of "Fall of the Apes" to the entire series, that is the time clues that opened up the parallel universe. Theoretically, the destructive ending of "Fall of the Apes" is the end of this series. However, the Ape Clan Dr. Gila and his wife took a spaceship to escape their birth, and bridged the time and space between the film and the subsequent "Escape of the Apes," "Conquest of the Apes", and "Battle of the Apes", which allowed the story to continue. An interesting ring structure is formed. If the first "Planet of the Apes" in this series is very great as an individual, then if the relatively mediocre latter ones are regarded as a whole, it is also a masterpiece in the history of science fiction movies.
♑
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