In 1963, French author Pierre Boulle, best known for his novel The Bridge over the River Kwai (1952), released a science fiction novel that would go on to launch one of Hollywood’s most enduring franchises.
That novel, Planet of the Apes, became a source of endless fascination, as it imagined a world in which apes were the dominant species and humans had been reduced to animals. There was and remains something both compelling and frightening about the idea that this species, which shares so many qualities with humanity, might one day evolve to usurp humans, regardless of how unrealistic and unscientific that notion ultimately is.
Although Franklin J. Schaffner’s 1968 adaptation, Planet of the Apes (1968), strayed far from Boulle’s novel, it became a cultural touchstone thanks to its nuclear war concerns and the iconic Rod Serling-penned twist. After nine movies, two television series, comic books, novels and video game spinoffs, the Apes franchise has held together strong over the decades and shows no signs of slowing down.
The release of the 10th film in the franchise, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, which follows the rebooted continuity that began with Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), brings further adventures in this strange, yet all-too familiar world. So, how does the latest entry compare to the others? Below, I rank the Planet of the Apes films as the series goes through evolution after evolution.
10. Planet of the Apes (2001)
Image Credit: Everett It’s a bit of a bummer to place Tim Burton’s reimagining last, as it’s not that bad of a movie, and Burton, as always, brings no shortage of style. But alas, it doesn’t hit the marks of the other entries. The film lacks the kind of urgency that helped define its predecessors and successors. Although it was intended to launch a franchise, poor reception resulted in a standalone entry that sits between two more memorable series.
The plot begins simple enough with astronaut Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) crash-landing on a strange planet ruled by apes who treat humans as slaves. But it becomes muddled in time travel rules via a time vortex that I can’t begin to explain, and a third-act human rebellion that comes about too quickly. While the narrative doesn’t quite gel together, it is ironically closer to Boulle’s novel in that the planet of the apes is a different planet and not Earth, and the two stories share similar endings.
Where the film succeeds is in its casting of supporting roles. Tim Roth, Paul Giamatti, Michael Clarke Duncan and Helena Bonham Carter each give brilliantly committed performances. But the true star of the show is Rick Baker, whose prosthetic makeup work makes this iteration of Apes a must-watch if only to appreciate the artistry. As far as bottom-of-the-list franchise entries go, you could do much worse than Burton’s attempt.
9. Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)
Image Credit: Everett The fifth and final entry in the original Apes series is a bit shaggy (literally). The ape masks for background actors hang so loosely that it’s impossible not to see the human faces behind the eyeholes, and the tactic of releasing one Apes movie every year had clearly taken a toll on the costumes. None of the films were expensive productions, but it’s hard to overlook just how cheap Battle looks, especially in the hands of returning director, J. Lee Thompson. Yet, as always, Roddy McDowall’s committed performance as the ape leader, Caesar, and a mostly compelling story keeps things afloat.
A few years after a nuclear war that has destroyed most of humanity, Caesar tries to build an ape society, based on peace between apes and humans. But the gorilla, General Aldo (Claude Akins), believes humans should serve the apes as a slave workforce. This leads to a conflict and tragedy in which the sacred rule “ape shall never kill ape” is broken, and Caesar realizes that apes are ultimately no better than man. Despite the relative cheapness of the film and the fact that of its credited screenwriters John William Corrington and Joyce Hooper Corrington, Joyce had never seen an Apes film when she took the job, Battle does an admirable job maintaining continuity. The series comes full circle establishing the world seen in Planet of the Apes and its immediate sequel…
8. Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)
Image Credit: Everett Since its release, Beneath the Planet of the Apes has been regarded as a poor follow-up to its predecessor. Time has, thankfully, been far kinder to Beneath, and it’s been re-evaluated in recent years as nuclear fears have risen again. While it’s not nearly the brave new world of its predecessor, it is a strange trip that has proven essential to the lore and continuing appeal of this series, even if it wasn’t recognized in its time.
An astronaut, Brent (James Franciscus) is sent in search of Taylor (Charlton Heston) and his crew, only to find himself on the same planet of the apes as his predecessors. From Nova (Linda Harrison), Brent learns that Taylor, the ship’s only survivor, has been lost in the Forbidden Zone. With the help of Zira (Kim Hunter) the pair make their way through the tunnels beneath the surface where they find the telepathic human survivors, mutants, of the nuclear holocaust who plan to detonate the last remaining nuke they worship as their god. While Franciscus is a bit of a diet-cola version of Heston, made more apparent when Heston finally shows up in the final act, he’s a solid journeyman to lead us into the eerie spectacle of NYC’s remains. Plus, the film offers one of the bleakest endings possible, which is saying something considering how the original film ended.
7. Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
Image Credit: Everett The fourth film in the original Apes franchise is comprised of pure rage and the red-hot glow of revolution. It’s impressive just how angry J. Lee Thompson’s film is, considering its place in a popular blockbuster series that was the face of lunch boxes and action figures.
The film follows Cornelius and Zira’s son Milo, now an adult ape who’s been hidden away for years thanks to his kind surrogate human father Armando (Ricardo Montalban). When the two find themselves in a U.S. city that has been turned into a police state following a pandemic that wiped out all animal life except for humans and apes, they experience first-hand the abuse and slavery apes endure in so-called civilized cities. Milo, suffering abuse as a slave under the state’s Governor Breck (Don Murray) chooses the name Caesar (Roddy McDowall) and sets about teaching the apes to resist the masters, and leads underground meetings where apes organize and gather arms. This leads to a violent, and surprisingly bloody, revolution through the streets and an impassioned speech by Caesar, McDowell’s finest moment, in which he asserts the apes’ dominance over mankind. The theatrical cut cops out a bit, thanks to early test screenings, but the uncut version on the Blu-ray edition shows the result of Caesar’s rebellion in all of its uncompromising violence. Of all the original Apes films, Conquest has had the greatest impact on the modern version of the franchise, which has centered around Caesar and his legacy.
6. Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)
Image Credit: Everett From the outside, Don Taylor’s third entry in the Apes series looks like a much lighter affair than the two prior. But its social satire and culture clash romp lead to a much more sinister story, a reminder that even at its most fun, the Apes series never misses the opportunity to expose the cruelty of humanity.
Escaping in a Taylor’s repaired rocket ship before the destruction of Earth, Cornelius (Roddy McDowall), Zira (Kim Hunter) and Milo (Sal Mineo) land on Earth in 1973 after encountering the same time vortex that brought Taylor to the future. The apes quickly become celebrities following a government hearing in which they reveal themselves to be from a future version of Earth. While they are showered with gifts and attention, the government digs further into the appearance of these apes, suspecting they are not revealing the whole truth about the future and mankind’s role in it. When the President’s science advisor, Dr. Otto Hasslein (Eric Braeden) discovers that Zira is pregnant and interrogates Cornelius about how apes became Earth’s dominant species, he positions the apes as a threat and makes plans to execute them. The second half of the film shifts into political thriller mode, and it’s made all the more compelling by the fact that audiences have gotten to know Cornelius and Zira over the last two movies, more so than any of the human leads. And that makes the ending all the more distressing.
5. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
Image Credit: Joseph Lederer/20th Century Fox Film Corp./Courtesy Everett Collection Writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver reinvigorated the Apes franchise for a new generation. Taking the Batman Begins approach in rebooting a classic franchise with a grounded mindset worked out for very few films following the release of The Dark Knight. But Rise was a clear exception and a surprise hit. While other attempts to remake or reboot Planet of the Apes aimed for grandeur and largely focused on that future society run by apes, Rise takes a methodical, personal approach.
Rupert Wyatt’s direction and pacing puts emotion at the forefront, as it invites the audience to connect with Caesar (Andy Serkis), a young chimp who goes from test subject and human companion to a kind scientist, Will Rodman (James Franco), and his Alzheimer’s-afflicted father, Charles (John Lithgow), to eventually a revolutionary leader. Rather than apes simply evolving into human-like beings, Rise makes them the subject of an experimental Alzheimer’s drug that increases their intelligence and eventually allows them to teach other apes. What makes the reboot work is not because of the question, how did apes take over the world? But rather asking a question from Caesar’s perspective: What am I? And that becomes a powerful throughline in the film, which made the following installments all the more impactful.
4. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)
Image Credit: Courtesy of 20th Century Studios Wes Ball’s latest entry in the Apes franchise, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, is set nearly 300 years after Caesar and introduces audiences to an entirely new cast of ape characters. Centered around Noa (Owen Teague), a young, naïve-yet curious chimpanzee from the Eagle Clan, Kingdom is a coming-of-age tale that takes a hero’s journey approach.
When his clan is captured by the forces of Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand — a bonobo who has twisted the teachings of Caesar around to fashion himself into a dictator who rules over all apes, destroying individual cultures — Noa sets out to save his friends and family. Along his journey, he discovers the truth about Caesar, and his world, from the orangutan, Raka (Peter Macon), and their mysterious human companion, Mae (Freya Allen).
Kingdom feels like a significant step forward in the reboot franchise, focusing on ape culture, history and religion, and how truth can be forgotten as a result of both a fear of the past and a will to control it. But like Wyatt and Reeves’ films, Ball takes a deliberate pacing, building up characters and the world with the sense of a roadmap, rather than rushing to the world we remember from the ’68 film. And there’s a true sense of evolution to the apes’ behavior, as their increasingly human in both their speech and facial expressions, wonderfully brought to life by the actors, mo-cap technology, and WETA. Tonally, Kingdom feels lighter than Dawn and War, which feels right as the first part of a new trilogy. Yet, there are dark revelations, and the film feels akin to A New Hope when it comes to introducing a young protagonist grappling with a past he barely knows and his role in a future he is not yet prepared for. Some questions still linger at the end of the film, yet Kingdom feels self-contained enough to feel like an entire story, while also teasing an expansive and exciting future.
3. Planet of the Apes (1968)
Image Credit: Everett Franklin J. Schaffner’s Planet of the Apes remains a high point in science-fiction movies. From its shocking depiction of a world in which man is subservient to beast, its groundbreaking make-up effects work, memorable performances, quotable lines and, of course, that shattering twist-ending, Planet of the Apes has proven hugely influential.
Somehow, when I first saw the film in the late ’90s, I hadn’t been spoiled on the ending, thanks to those primitive internet days, and I found the ending just as shocking as audiences in ’68 must have. Though Planet of the Apes is, understandably, discussed in the shadow of 1968’s other great science-fiction film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes‘ vision of the future was arguably more based in the then-present-day and threat of nuclear war, the relative newness of space travel and the overall social unrest of the era. There was something more immediate about Planet of the Apes, both in the film’s pacing and its warning that elevated its pulp concept into an allegory. While certain aspects are dated, like Taylor’s sometimes abrasive depiction of masculinity, Schaffner’s film still stands as a remarkable achievement that is taken seriously, yet doesn’t lack a certain and necessary sense of madness.
2. War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)
Image Credit: Everett Matt Reeves’ conclusion to Caesar’s (Andy Serkis) story takes a somber approach, as war stories so often do, with Caesar’s family being executed by a military mastermind called the Colonel (Woody Harrelson), who uses Gorillas who do not respect Caesar’s rule as part of his military force. With his youngest son, Cornelius, as the only survivor of the attack on his family, Caesar leaves him with his tribe as they journey to a new home, the oasis.
Caesar, Rocket (Terry Notary), Maurice (Karin Konoval) and Luca (Michael Adamthwaite) draw the attention of The Colonel’s forces away, and discover new allies along the way: a young girl, Nova (Amiah Miller) and Bad Ape (Steve Zahn), a former aoo chimp who was previously abused by The Colonel’s army. Much of War feels like a Western revenge story rather than a direct conflict between militarized forces. The war element comes down to Caesar’s war with himself, questioning what future he’s led his tribe into, and if his quest for revenge makes him any better than Koba (Toby Kebbell), who haunts his nightmares. It’s a more introspective film than anticipated, no less gripping than its predecessor, though it lacks some of the shock value in terms of the apes’ skill at horseback riding, and communication skills. War for the Planet of the Apes is a sweeping, emotional epic that brings Caesar’s trilogy of films to a conclusion and establishes him as a near-religious savior of his species, which sets the stage for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes in some surprising ways.
1. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
Image Credit: Everett Rise teed up the new Planet of the Apes franchise, but Dawn knocked it out of the park. The second installment of the modern Apes saga was a great leap forward in narrative and motion-capture capabilities. Director Matt Reeves pushed the series beyond anything it had seen before, taking Apes to a place of Shakespearean heights as Caesar, having made a home for himself and his tribe in the Redwood Forest, is challenged by the increasingly unhinged bonobo, Koba (Toby Kebbell), who takes a liking to killing humans in vengeance for what was once done to him as a test subject.
While the Apes franchise has always been filled with great characters, it’s never quite had a dichotomy like the one between Caesar and Koba, which elevates the stakes, particularly as Caesar struggles with the decision to make one last attempt at living peacefully with the humans he encounters, Malcolm (Jason Clarke), his wife Ellie (Keri Russell), and son Alexander (Kodi Smit McPhee). While Caesar (Andy Serkis) wrestles with Koba’s betrayal, Malcolm faces a parallel struggle with Dreyfus (Gary Oldman) the leader of the human survivors, who blames apes for the loss of his family and sees them as nothing more than animals. On a technical and performance level, the apes look and behave so naturally and with so much emotion it’s easy to forget there are talented actors behind them and extraordinary effects work. Serkis and Kebbell deliver all-time performances that could stand with the best of any of the award-nominated performances of that year. And even if you put all of that aside for a moment, it’s hard to beat the sheer thrill of seeing apes on horseback wielding machine guns. Call it animal nature.
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