Friday, January 2nd, 2009
07.00 Planet Of The Apes
11.00 V
Planet Of The Apes. Movie 2. "Beneath The Planet" A second astronaut crashes on the same planet, he meets Taylor's girlfriend (immediately after landing!!!) and the two of them set out to find Taylor. First they run foul of the apes and later they go underground and find something worse...
Oh dear. The first half of the first movie was pure adventure yarn, and so is the first half of this one with Brent and (the very hot) Nova being chased/captured by the apes at various times. Amid the action, the movie manages to feature all the main characters from the first one (even Taylor gets some new scenes, thanks to Nova's flashbacks to their times together).
The final half of the first movie had depth and meaning, while the second half of this one is pure hokum. Once the heroes go underground they find a race of humans who have developed incredible powers of the mind, and - in their spare time - have created a fanatical religion around an atomic bomb.
Goofy ideas. Even if they were well excecuted, I'm not sure how the fit into the world of the apes as detailed in the original movie. In fact, if you think about them too much, they kinda damage the serious tone of the franchise.
And the whole enterprise is badly realised on screen. Endless mind-torture scenes to - you know - show us what they can do. Brent tries to kill Nova more than once in pointless, sadistic scenes. And then there is the religion... which occupies many, many minutes of screen time. The rituals and prayers are shown in great detail. Ok, I get it, I get it: they worship a bomb. Let's move on, shall we?
The ending is bleak, and because of that very enjoyable, but the second half of the movie is deadly dull and silly. Once the narrative moves beneath the planet of the apes there is an awful lot of standing around watching people pray or create mental illusions. Yawn...
V. Part One. Aliens arrives in gigantic spaceships and make friends with us. But all is not as it seems. Various people, though different means, begin to suspect that the aliens are not the friends they pretend to be...
The opening half hour of this thing is one of the best build-ups ever committed to film. The tension rises and rises as every single character gathers around their TV to see what is about to happen. It shouldn't work. Logically. I mean, why should we care about a bunch of characters we've never seen before sitting down to watch the news for a half-hour?
Maybe it has something to do with the incredible casting and characterisation?
From their first line of dialogue, it is abundantly clear who each of these people are and what path their character is likely to take in the story to follow. It is a remarkable feat. None of them (with the exception of Mike's wife) is bland or boring. Each one grips the viewer and we care what happens to them.
And a lot happens...
Aliens become part of everyday life, but - on the edge of the character's knowledge - things are happening... People are disappearing, and the aliens seem to be gaining more and more power.
A thinly-veiled retelling of events in Nazy Germany, prior to WWII, this mini-series still packs as much of a punch as it always did.
Without exception, all the best scenes go to Leonardo Cimino as the old man who remembers Nazy Germany from first-hand experience. His speech (about his dead wife) can still make this viewer cry.
Leonardo Cimino aside, the show has many talent actors, many great scenes and many wonderful characters. Marc Singer is the quintessential sci-fi action hero (crusading journalist Mike Donovan), long before her character steps up to take the leadership reins of the resistance Faye Grant is absolutely riveting in the part, we watch her fighting with her boyfriend and worrying for her missing friend and we come to care a lot about her. In the final moments, when the camera goes for a close-up on her face as she lies in the dirt having just been shot, it brings your heart leaping to your mouth. We love Julie and are terrified that she, too, is about to die.
It's probably the best scene in the first two-hours. Any of the action scenes with Donovan dodging alien blasts are also terrific, as is the incredible action sequence with opens the story. Many of the quiet scenes are wonderful, too. The chemistry between Maxwell and his wife as they talk about the dinner party is wonderful.
And on and on...
So many highlights.
It's considered a classic. And it deserves to be.
Highlight? V (a classic)
Yet Another TV Review Podcast
Yet Another TV Review Book
Yet Another Film Review Blog
A Briefing With Michael: One Year Ago
Planet Of The Apes, V
