A classic

Last year, I have watched all the Star Trek movies and, this year, I have decided to do the same thing with the Planet of the Apes franchise. I’m pretty sure I saw this flick when I was a kid but it was definitely a very long time ago and I had forgotten most of it. What a grand Science-Fiction tale! I actually had a hard time convincing Nick, my step-son, to watch it with me but within 5 minutes, he was completely hooked which is always a good sign. Indeed, I thought it was much better than I remembered. First of all, I really enjoyed how they took their time at the beginning for the viewers and the characters to get acquainted with this strange world. Eventually, after waiting for 30 minutes, you finally see those apes and it was basically a huge slap in my face. In my memories, I thought they looked really cheesy but I was wrong, they looked just awesome. The way they managed to allow the simian characters to have some specific facial characteristics and being able to show their emotions was just mind-blowing. Especially considering that the make-up is now already 45 years old! Furthermore, when the apes show up, it was like a nightmare (‘Where did I land?!? Is it real?’). They further developped some very interesting idea about the future, science-fiction in general, parallel realities and many other things. The only major flaw in my opinion was how clueless Taylor actually is. I mean, how many clues does he actually need ? I mean, the vegetation, the horses, the language, the alphabet and many other things in this planet are exactly the same as on Earth but, still, he doesn’t get it. Anyway, with the ending, it then completely made sense. And what an ending! Definitely one of the famous ever put on the silver screen and it was indeed downright awesome and shattering. To conclude, it is a indeed a classic, a very good SF flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

8/10