This is the fourth film of the "Planet of the Apes" series and even though there have been quite a few moments when I have seriously questioned the choices made by the writers, I have been pleased with the acting and the direction. In fact, it has become entertaining just sitting back and wondering just what's going to happen next...whether it will make sense or not.

In "Beneath the Planet of the Apes", we were led underground and met up with a world of mutants with nukes. In "Escape from the Planet of the Apes", the apes went back in time and became celebrities which the human population loved and the military feared. And in "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes", we are treated to Roddy McDowall's new role as Caesar, son of Cornelius and Zira. He's super intelligent, can speak and doesn't like that apes have become house pets. Actually, they're more like slaves since the extinction event that wiped out all dogs and cats years earlier (in another of the series' WTF moments).

There are two versions of this film on the newest Blu-Ray release and of the two, I preferred the brutal Unrated cut. It brought a much darker tone. The TV version and the original cut end in such a manner that each sends the series in a different direction. And as an unrelated point, I love the Blu-Ray release's Main Menu.

The ape makeup is much improved in "Conquest...". The massive crowd of apes look much better than they did in the laughable crowd scenes in "Beneath...". It seemed there were hundreds of them, attacking the human military in their red, green, or orange jump suits. The apes attacked in what appeared to be swarms, overwhelming the armed, but outnumbered security forces. It's pretty amazing how they coordinated the battles, although they did occur in the dark of night which had to help mask makeup and action sequence shortcomings.

Knowing where this unpredictable series has gone during the first four films leaves me stumped as to who will win control of the planet in the final installment.

'Conquest of the Planet of the Apes' is the weakest of the first four films. It's watchable, still.

It shares similarities to 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' from the rebooted 2010s series, though it isn't quite as entertaining or convincing. Serviceable it is, however. Roddy McDowall stays in the franchise, but as a different character in Caesar. McDowall is the clear standout from the cast, the rest of whom are solid if forgettable.

I found the real world parallels a bit too forced in this one, while the long speeches near the end feel over the top. For the early 1970s, though, the look of the film remains pleasant - I do like watching these films, after all this is - in my opinion - still a passable flick; if indeed the weakest so far.

Last year, "Cornelius" and "Zira" were back in the 1970s. Now we scoot forward a few millennia and find that the Simian flu has robbed humankind of it's pets. Always in need of something to feed, comb and to take for walks, we have decided to domesticate chimps. The thing is, though, that this plan has started to spiral out of control. The animals have had just about enough of being the substitutes for our erstwhile four legged friends and are beginning to smell freedom. The governor "Brock" (Don Murray) is determined to beat down any rebellion, but hasn't factored in the appearance of "Caesar" (Roddy McDowall playing his own son!) who is the one who could make all the difference - he can talk, after all. Pursued, tortured and enslaved he must escape and rally his kind in their pursuit of freedom. This is quite a decent story because we have plenty of action and we have a baddie to focus on. For that, Murray is quite efficient at garnering our loathing as a typically megalomaniac politician. Ricardo Montalban carries through his role as circus owner "Armando" but frankly adds little to the theme that bubbles along nicely towards a denouement that shows that these former slaves are quite adept with a blow torch - who knew? It's all familiar now, and that allows us to just get on with this latest episode in a perfectly watchable season of movies.

6/10
The Extended version of this installment is the only one to watch, it's bloody and brutal.
This is much better than the piss-poor installment
Beneath the planet
of the Apes which is the weakest one of the hole series.
This one picks up some 20yrs after Escape and is literally playing out the prophecy of the ancient scrolls from the original movie, which for better are for worse is quite clever telling the story in reverse order. Especially for the time. Caesar played by Roddy is the standout and once this movie hit the end of the second act going into the 3rd now that's when things get interesting.
I did want a big
"NO"
From Caesar at the end which I never got and them
big long boring over
exaggerated speeches
at the end took me straight out of the movie, just
Plain silly really, that was no time for a big long winded debate.
And what happened to
Douchebag that was hunting Caesar, the main guy's interrogator,
He just wasn't around for the end of
the 3rd act.
I was waiting for someone to get put on the electrocution table other than an Ape.
Not the best outing
But certainly not the worst
And not bad as part of the
Hole.

**A few guys in rubber masks throwing some chairs around does not make a global conquest.**

I understand the budgetary restraints but come on. Twenty guys running amok with a chair leg is way to weak.

The poster exclaims _a spectacle like never before witnessed_ and what do we get? A small crowd of men in boiler suits wielding a cabbage at the authorities.

_I swear one of the Apes even threw a comb at a policeman._

A shame the budget wasn't there as the cheapness really restricted the promise.