Opinion on Planet of the Apes (1968) and related work
- Sequel: Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)
- Sequel: Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)
- Sequel: Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
- Sequel: Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)
- Remake: Planet of the Apes (2001)
Planet of the Apes (1968
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References here: Patton (1970), A Scanner Darkly (1977), Story of Science Fiction (2018).
‣ Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)
Until I saw this I thought the singing in the wonderful The Simpsons (1989) musical parody was exaggerated.
‣ Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)
‣ Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
Colonial.
‣ Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)
Cute mutants.
‣ Planet of the Apes (2001)
Michael Atkinson foresaw this remake perfectly in a 1995-09 essay in Film Comment, republished in Ghosts in the Machine (1999):
The miracle of the Apes films is that such complex and dour textual issues dominate an otherwise preposterous manifestation of cheap trash culture, one that was from the outset unashamed and unfettered by art or conscience or responsibility. This is, of course, the gutsy, low-rent glory of authentic pulp. It’s not a quality that can be recaptured in expensive remakes, no matter how strenuous the effort; if Planet of the Apes is indeed reincarnated, the brute nerve and chilling disorentation of the thing will surely be lost amid the acres of trod-upon eggshells. Of course, the remaining films will never be remade — they’re too disreputable, too berserk. America prefers nerveless anodynes like Forrest Gump as prescriptive histories of itself. Ruefully, raw visions of everlasting heat-death seem to be a thing of the past.