2001 VERSION FAILS TO APE THE SUCCESS OF THE EARLIER PLANET OF THE APES
In 1968, Planet of the Apes emerged as one of the most profound films of all times, raising issues about racial discrimination and nuclear war. Now a retake (not a remake) with a roughly similar plot and a unique surprise ending, is again based on the novel La Planète des singes by Pierre Boulle. Directed by Tim Burton, the new Planet of the Apes starts in 2029. Leo Davidson (played by Mark Wahlberg) is on a space station along with several caged apes; one chimpanzee has been trained to fly a Delta Pod, a small space vehicle. An electromagnet storm develops near the space station, so the ape is sent to get readings, but his ship disappears. Unauthorized, Davidson then tries to rescue the chimp and obtain information about the storm, but he also gets sucked into a vortex and soon his Delta Pod crashes in a rainforest on a planet sometime in the future. Soon, humans are running past him, so he joins, only to discover that apes are pursuing runaway humans, and soon he is among those captured. While most apes tolerate humans only for the subordinate roles that they perform, Ari (played by Helena Bonham Carter) believes that apes and humans can live as equals, but General Thade (played by Tim Roth) wants to exterminate humans. As filmviewers will expect, Davidson tries to lead humans out of captivity with the help of Ari, and a showdown between a few humans and a large army of ferocious apes occurs. Davidson discovers that the space station crashed on the planet before he did, so the apes on board evolved from the moment of impact, and the humans on the planet are descendants of those who once manned the space station. Before we see the outcome of the battle between apes and humans, however, the chimp who started the unusual pursuit unexpectedly makes a soft landing on the planet but dies soon after arriving. Davidson then gets into the undamaged spacecraft to fly back to earth, presumably to get help for the humans. When he lands, however, the surprise ending is that apes have taken over the planet (presumably, earth), a statue of Thade has replaced Lincoln at what is now the Thade Memorial, Davidson is captured, and we await the sequel to find out what will happen next. A few lines throughout are intended to titillate politically aware filmviewers, but those who bother to react will doubtless guffaw on hearing lines about the dangers of technological advances, the virtue of “extremism in the defense of apes,” a Rodney King quote, and how specieism (cruel treatment of one species by another) demeans the dominant specie. In contrast with the sage political messages of the earlier film, the year 2001 version of Planet of the Apes is thus devoid of an original insight or a profound message. MH