Picking up after he has learned the truth about what happened to Earth, Taylor (Charlton Heston) heads out into the forbidden zone and disappears.
Meanwhile, another astronaut Brent (James Franciscus) has landed on the planet, and finds himself stumbling in Taylor’s footsteps.
However things are changing at a rapid pace.
Dr Zaius (Maurice Evans) is finding his conservative position being outflanked by the fascistic General Ursus (James Gregory), who is determined to exterminate all humans.
Meanwhile, out in the forbidden zone, another force is marshalling, one that holds the power to bring an end to the Planet of the Apes.
Ted Post is one of those filmmakers who I recognise from 70s sequels, namely this move and the Dirty Henry entry Magnum Force.
This movie is bad.
Post apparently hated the script, saying it was not about anything.
He is right.
Whatever allegory the previous film has is made textual in this film - we have militarists sounding the drumbeat for wars of expansion, we have young apes protesting said war, and we have a death cult worshiping an atomic bomb.
It feels like a side quest or - in franchise terms - Quantum of Solace, a movie that takes a definitive ending, and teases it out a bit further.
Heston famously did not want to return so his role was truncated.
In his place, James Franciscus was cast as another astronaut from another expedition.
We then get a fast forward run-through of the previous movie as Brent is introduced to the world.
It draws attention to how good the original movie is.
There are also a couple of elements - like a comedic beat using domestic violence - which feel less like a reflection of their time, and more like filmmakers with no ideas of how to expand upon the canvas they have been given.
Linda Harrison has nothing to do aside from being dragged from scene to scene, before she gets shot dead at the climax.
At the halfway mark, the film takes a turn for the bizarre.
In the film’s best sequence, Brent and Nova find their way underground and end up in the ruins of post-apocalyptic New York City.
Using redressed sets from the mega-flop musical Hello Dolly!, this sequence is wonderfully grim.
It was my favorite scene when I first watched it, and it remains the film’s best jolt. That effect does not last.
The introduction of the irradiated people comes off as hilarious rather than scary
There is no subtext to this sequence - aside from a certain racist underpinning from pitting pale brainiacs against the apes.
The mutant civilisation feels more half baked than the Apes above ground.
Franciscus is cursed with vaguely looking and sounding like Heston. When the genuine article shows up at the end, the poor guy feels like a shadow.
The film feels like a rush job - its reason for existing was to make money.
Heston’s disdain seems to filter through the film’s home stretch, as the apes invade the city and the mutants begin taking their own lives. The film is such a coda, the apocalyptic feels like a relief.
Finally it was over. The Planet of Apes was a cinder.
Or so we thought…
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