It's....Wednesday night...y'all?
First of all, I'm a physical wreck right now. Housemate has had awful back pain and spasms for a week now, and I'm the only one to help her move around the house.
She seems situated right now, so hopefully, not too many interruptions.
Fan. Fucking. Tastic. 💯
It's a great fake out intro. We start with the cliff face where Taylor found the Statue of Liberty. The camera holds the shot achingly until a helicopter zooms past. Then the spaceship in the water. It's deliberately calling back to the first film, but it's inverting everything.
You almost expect Taylor or....whomever the not-Taylor guy was in the last film...to be among the crew.
Instead, it's Zira, Cornelus, and one other. It's a genuine surprise, but also not a surprise at all.
Famously, Heston *hated* Beneath, and wanted the planet destroyed at the end so there'd be no sequels.
TO BAD SUCKER, YOU FORGOT ABOUT TIME TRAVEL PREQUELS!
"Why doesn't she take the banana?"
"Because I *loathe* bananas!"
Zira is a joy in this.
And there goes Dr. Milo.
I realize that the point of his death isn't more than an point to speed the plot along. Even so, it's unfortunate. His death happens so quickly and meaninglessly that it has no emotional impact.
Of course, it's not supposed to. Typically, films do this to emphasize the inherent danger in the situation. Yet here, it rings hollow.
Dear Universe...the actor who played Forbin, Eric Braeden, is in this. I can see why, it's only a year after that film, so he has the reputation as a "scientific" character.
Both Zira and Cornelius are such fun in this film. They feel like a genuine, loving, bickering couple. They have chemistry and it's reflected in their dialog.
"Does the male speak?" asks the board of inquiry.
"Only what she let's me," deadpan, replies Cornelius.
The board of inquiry scene sets the tone for the entire second act. Zira and Cornelius win over the crowd both in the courtroom as well public through the television broadcast.
While the happy welcomes for the "Ape-o-nauts" cast a light-hearted tone, Zira's near slip in the courtroom as to her experiments on the speechless humans from her time is the Chekov's Gun for the Third Act.
It feels like a world-building miss that the Ape civilization didn't have alcohol. They had fruits, and anything with sugar in it will ferment if it rots just right. They should have discovered that as well.
The lack of alcohol feels like USian puritanism working on the plot instead.
Zira's inexperience with it allows Hasslein to record key details about the Earth's future and its destruction.
The first film danced around the racial implications of it's setting.
Yeah, this film is not. It's much more a direct comparison. Cornelius reveals how their species came about from existing simian species after the extinction of popular pet species. After some centuries, they were effective slaves, and rightfully, revolted.
It still feels rather soft-balled here, tuned and edited for a white, affluent audience.
