It's Friday night, y'all. Time for #wenchwatches
Tonight: #battleForThePlanetOfTheApes
So, it's the last of the 70's Apes films. And we're starting off in the...25th century with a Zaius-like figure giving us the exposition of the last two films.
Previous followers of the tag would know that in the last film we had the treat of two different endings. The original, darker ending where Caesar gives no quarter or reprieve to humanity is *not* the one this film continues from. Instead, we get the revised, softer ending where Caesar's love interest spoke, interrupting the death of General Kolp -- the racist asshole from Conquest.
This opens a fun read for the previous film: Both endings are valid, but are different timelines. The original PotA and Escape follow from the darker original, whereas Battle follows from the softer ending instead. I'm sure there's deep lore about this somewhere someone on fedi would be happy to point me to.
The new Ape city is populated both by Simian and human alike. And unlike the original PotAs, humans retain their minds, their skills, and their power of speech. The harmony is delicate, as one would expect.
Nor has it been that long since Conquest. MacDonald is still alive, an not elderly. Humanity has indeed been decimated due to nuclear war. As such, Ape city is more basic; treehouses with thatch walls. Some human technology still exists, kept carefully under guard and out of common use.
Cinematically, the film is trying to return to the more Ape-centric fantasy of the first film while still continuing the existing plot. We even get some callbacks to the loving shots of stark desolation with some nice incidental music.
After the previous four films, you'd think we'd have sucked every last bit flavor from this setting. Instead, it feels like a much welcome return.
As the first act draws to a close, we also return to the Dead City, The Forbidden City, which we can guess will become the Forbidden Zone. Caesar and MacDonald hope to recover archives of Zira and Cornelius's testimony of the future. We find that indeed, the radioactive city is inhabited by humans, highly suggested to become the bomb worshiping mutants from Beneath.
@socketwench - Assuming you're watching the TV Edit, nearly all of the scenes with "Mendez" and "Alma" were removed from the theatrical cut. Putting them back in specifically points to these folks becoming the mutants from Beneath.
