Planet of the Apes
My personal history with the franchise of the “Planet of the Apes” is strictly tied to Tim Burton and Mark Wahlberg’s three nipples. More precisely, I last encountered the franchise when I was at the Tim Burton exhibition of the MoMA, where I was baffled at how the style of the film fits into the Tim Burton universe at all. Certainly “Planet of the Apes” looks like lame Hollywood fare. Despite being widely popular, normally Tim Burton retains a certain artsy strangeness which I thought was totally lacking in “Planet of the Apes”. The first time I learned about the film was when it came out, during a time I was regularly reading girl’s magazines, one of which claimed that Mark Wahlberg had three nipples. In retrospect, I feel extremely silly for remembering that. (I still love magazines though, except that I have shifted to things geared towards my age group and more focused on special interests I have. I certainly am not reading Cosmopolitan.)
So my expectations were very low. In comes Netflix which is taking down things again and the fact that my last venture into classic science fiction I have never seen was extremely successful. (Remember RoboCop?) I may have wanted to experience something like that again, even though I didn’t actually believe in it. When I think of old science fiction films, I expect something as stupid and vapid as “The day the earth stood still”. I want to forgive the film for being old, but the truth is that there were plenty of smart, complex films made before 1951, so there is no excuse. “RoboCop” and “Planet of the Apes” are probably forever changing it. As long as you don’t expect the intellectual heights of “1984” and are aware that you are dealing with Hollywood and not Tarkovsky, these films are surprisingly thoughtful. “Planet of the Apes” started off rather slow, but by the time they actually met the apes, I thought the story was extremely suspenseful and interesting. The entire concept of apes trying to avoid their demise by containing and dumbing down humans is so lovely, and also allows for a reasonable, complex villain.
With that said, the beginning may be slow, but it was also very beautifully shot. I was a little put off by the silly music they were playing, but I concede that it actually contributed to the atmosphere of the film and showcases the splendid landscape shots rather nicely. If I hadn’t felt so impatient for some action, I probably would have enjoyed the beauty of the first 15 minutes very much.
The only downside of the film is the girl really, she had nothing to do there whatsoever. Perhaps she is just a reminder that we are dealing with a Hollywood film here, and rule no.1 of any Hollywood film is a pretty girl.
The only dangerous thing about watching a film in a franchise is that in case you liked it, you always want to watch more. It’s like that for “Alien” (I still haven’t seen any of the other films though) and now I am feeling that for “Planet of the Apes”. Oh no.