Movies - Planet of the Apes

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	Movies - Planet of the Apes

Planet of the Apes is a 2001 science fiction film in which an astronaut finds himself on a planet where humans are enslaved by apes. It stars Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clarke Duncan, Paul Giamatti, Estella Warren, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, David Warner and Kris Kristofferson and was released on Friday, July 27, 2001. Charlton Heston, star of the 1968 version, also makes a cameo appearance.

The movie was adapted by William Broyles Jr., Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal from the novel La Planète des singes by Pierre Boulle and the earlier film adaptation. It was directed by Tim Burton. It was panned by critics and attracted much derision from many fans of the older Ape films. In particular, the film attempted to imitate its earlier namesake by revealing a plot twist at the end. This twist resembles the one featured at the end of the original Boulle novel, and also is similar to the types of twists Rod Serling (writer of the original film) liked to use to end episodes of his famous TV series The Twilight Zone. However, this remained largely obscure and was considered by many to be a (perhaps deliberate) non sequitur. Burton's DVD commentary suggests that the ending was intended as a cliffhanger rather than a twist, to be explained and resolved in a sequel which, due to the film's poor reception, never materialised.

Prior to the film's release, Tim Burton indicated his desire to "reimagine" the other films in the Apes movie series. This may have also been one of the reasons he enlisted the help of soundtrack composer Danny Elfman. Elfman produced a powerful Planet of the Apes soundtrack for Tim Burton, spearheaded by resounding brass that highlighted the barabaric nature of the Apes and their planet.

Unlike the original film, the end of the film does not feature the Statue of Liberty buried in the sand. Instead, it has Daniel Chester French's sculpture of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC replaced by a similar monument to the ape General Thade.

Plot synopsis

After crash-landing on an unknown planet, brash astronaut Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) finds himself trapped in a savage world where talking apes dominate the human race. Desperate to find a way home, Leo must evade the invincible gorilla army led by ruthless General Thade (Tim Roth), who pursues the astronaut to a sacred temple that may hold the secrets of mankind's past.

Extended plot summary

In the year 2029, onboard the Oberon space station we are introduced to a young astronaut, Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg), who works closely with primates who are trained for dangerous space missions. His favorite simian co-worker is the a chimpanzee named Pericles.

Suddenly an alert sounds - an enormous electromagnetic storm is approaching the station. The Oberon's commander decides to send out a small space going pod, piloted by Pericles, to probe the storm.

Pericles' pod heads into the storm and disappears. Distraught, and against his orders, Leo steals a second pod and goes in pursuit of Pericles. Entering the storm, Leo loses contact with the Oberon and his ship tumbles through a vortex finally arriving in orbit over a strange world. Leo takes his vehicle planetside, crashing it in a dense jungle.

Emerging from his damaged vessel, Leo sees the nearby brush rustling. Suddenly, a group of primitive humans emerge fleeing in terror. They are being pursued by large humanoid apes on horseback, who speak English! The humans, including Leo, are rounded up and hauled back to the Ape City where they are to be sold off as slaves.

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Movies - Planet of the Apes

Plot synopsis

Extended plot summary

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