"Planet of the Apes": reviews of the movie viewers and critics. Is it worth to look "Planet of the Apes: Revolution" (2014)?

Writer Peter Boule, the author of a bestseller published in 1963 and became the literary source of this film, was a satirist. He skillfully and with the use of various workshops receptions disguised his malicious and revealing creation under the usual fantastic novel. Why did he do this? In order, obviously, to expand the circle of its readers.

Fashion for science fiction

The sixties are a time for science fiction writers. And in the USSR, and in the US, and in many other countries. And Peter Buhl, and Kurt Vonnegut, and the Strugatsky brothers, Azik Azimov and many other outstanding writers of this time put their whole soul into their works, they strive to make humanity better and kinder. Actually, the fantasy for them is a genre "sweet shell" for the bitter pill of morality, which otherwise does not feed the mass reader. So the writer achieves two main goals. First, he seeks to "pollinate" his thoughts and ideas as many people as possible. And secondly, commercial potential is important for publishers, and for the author himself, - fees and fame depend on print runs. And here on the court of the reader the novel of Peter Boole "Planet of monkeys" is presented. The reviews were not slow to wait, and the plot seemed so fascinating that he asked for a screen. Hollywood reacted in five years.

A glorious time, the late 60's

Let's return mentally in 1968. Today, few of the children dream of becoming an astronaut, and then, which of the children do not ask, regardless of gender (Tereshkova has already flown into orbit, and Gagarin's smile has adorned the covers of periodicals around the world for seven years), everyone was delirious with the cosmos.

On the Moon, the Americans had not yet landed, but it was coming. With all this triumph of technology and scientific progress, psychologically the average inhabitant of the Earth remained (as it is today) at the medieval level. The giant Stratofortress B-52 and the smaller planes plowed the jungles of Vietnam, the blood of Arabs and Jews was flowing in the Middle East, and in Africa there were also events that did not speak about the progress of humanism. Leaders of superpowers from time to time joyfully smiled, shaking each other's right hand in international negotiations, and in the left carefully held the handles of "nuclear suitcases."

The unwashed hippies, puffing with "jambs", propagated the rejection of civilization in favor of natural, "environmentally friendly" human relations.

People who lived in the late sixties sometimes had the impression that comparison with the Middle Ages was still too flattering for humanity. Pithecanthropus with a nuclear missile under the armpit is a more realistic metaphor. And then the screen came out the movie "Planet of the Apes".

The first "Planet"

In that year, premieres of many world cinema masterpieces took place. George Romero took off the "Night of the Living Dead", Pier Paolo Pasolini - "The Theorem", Polanski - "Child Rosemary." There were also many other pictures that aroused frenzied interest among critics and spectators. The film "The Planet of the Apes" was not disregarded. Reviews about him were different. Those who read Bul's novel were most often dissatisfied with the fact that the plot is greatly reduced, and at times changed. Such accusations, however, can be addressed to any director who undertook the adaptation of a voluminous literary work (for example, Bondarchuk, who in the same 1968 finished shooting War and Peace). "And what do you want to do if all events need to be placed in a two-digit, or, in extreme cases, a three-digit number of minutes of screen time?" - I want to ask such critics.

Components of success

Blockbuster was doomed to success. It combined the main ingredients of a successful film. The sophisticated spectator was fascinated by all these "hints and half-hints" connecting the plot collisions and real modern life. People simply liked to observe the intricacies of the narrative, and they are really interesting. Special effects in the cinematographer-connoisseur today will cause a crooked grin. Masks are simple, massive scenes are not so massive, and all sorts of explosions and "babahs" will now do much worse, and even in 3-D with Dolby Surround sound, rattling from a multitude of acoustic systems. Few people think about how difficult it was for the actors (and they attracted very good people to the shootings) to perform the roles practically without mimicry. In the film, Keri Russell, Gary Oldman, Jason Clarke, Andy Serkis, Toby Kebbell and many other stars of the first magnitude of American cinema of the 60s played.

Plot

The fantastic story, which formed the main line of the narrative, can in general be summed up rather briefly. A spaceship is in an accident on an unknown planet. Earthlings, of course, all Americans. It seems that the place of forced landing is deserted, but behind the external uninhabitation lies a terrible reality. Humanoids and primates live here, and the second ones oppress the first. This planet of monkeys plays the role of the simplest model of a totalitarian society, the social basis of which is the racial (and perhaps biological) domination of one species of inhabitants over others. People are kept in cages as animals. There is a certain analogy with Nazi Germany or the apartheid regime.

This state of affairs should embarrass the people of the future. The impudent trampling of elementary rights outrages the viewer today as well as in 1968. But if this happens in real life ... Meanwhile, Taylor and the rest of the crew of the spaceship is fighting for the rights of people.

Series and sequels

So it was always, when a commercially successful work appeared, businessmen from the world of show business had a desire to extend the period of profitability and extract everything from the gold-bearing vein to the very last grains. At the same time, artistic merit and the main idea often played a secondary role. So it was with the series "Planet of the Apes". Comments on him by viewers in 1974 ranged from enthusiastic to extremely skeptical. Makeup and masks were worse than the movie of the same name, the plot is stretched (it's understandable, the series planned to shoot a lot). From the literary source remains little. The names of the characters and the monkeys themselves, that's all. And then all on the rolled, good guys fight with bad monkeys with some plot twists.

Total number of films-sequels on the "monkey" theme was five, and they were called in different ways: "Farewell ...", "Under the Planet ...", "Flight", "Conquest" and "Battle". And this is not counting the aforementioned series and "Rebellion" directed by Rupert Wyatt. "Planet of the Apes", the reviews on which became more restrained as the images were replicated, became a trademark with all the signs of franchising.

Tim Burton made a remake. He did not say anything new about his film. It turned out worse than what was done before, the director completely refused everything that attracted the reader a fantastic novel "The Planet of the Apes". Reviews about the movie, which can be conditionally attributed to positive, came only from teenagers, which addressed the new version at the time.

The idea of continuing

Since the attempt of the last adaptation of the remarkable novel, many years have passed. Ironically, the first film and modern connoisseurs of fiction did not forget, in contrast to many clearly obsolete examples of the genre of the forties, fifties or sixties. For example, the "Space Odyssey" today looks a little boring, especially in the scenes that shook their technological novelty at the time of their first use.

The problem of inter-civilization conflicts in recent decades has not lost its relevance. Wars and interventions for the Western world are relatively painless so far, but they also reveal differences in the perception of the representatives of the so-called "civilized Western world" and the inhabitants of countries that are subjected to aggression.

A fantastic battle between humans and monkeys became the basis of the plot line of the continuation of the old movie "Planet of the Apes - Revolution" (2014). The responses to it are no less controversial than the first part, shot forty-six years ago.

How events develop in continuation

Ten years after the epidemic of a mysterious disease that killed most of the human population, the situation on the planet is pre-war. Monkeys used breathing room to strengthen their strength, there was a genetic modification, and their numbers increased dramatically. The conditions of the world, to which the inhabitants of a distant society separated in space, cease to arrange primates. They act very humanly. A possible reaction to a change in balance is one, the monkeys are preparing to attack. And soon realize aggressive designs.

The aged Andy Serkis, who played in the first film of Caesar, reappears on the screen, in the same role. There are no more actors of the "first draft" in the second part (continuation).

New "Planet"

So, the goals are clear, - decided in Hollywood, - the tasks are defined, therefore, for work, goods ... sorry, gentlemen. The topic is topical, then there were revolutions on our planet with different romantic-botanical or more often colored names. Or they still have to break out. Why not disturb the good old (or not) proven humanoid monkeys? Is it possible to shake and fragile cinematic coexistence, to which after long conflicts came the characters of the movie "The Planet of the Apes"? The revolution must be carried out there. And it began.

Result

Describe all the vicissitudes of the plot of the new blockbuster - this is the same as before the beginning of the detective film to inform viewers that the killer is the driver. In addition, if there is a lot of events on the screen, as in the case of the film "The Planet of the Apes: Revolution". Reviews, and the most unkind, just incinerate the author of such a review. The premiere took place quite recently, on July 14 (we have the 17th), and not everyone was able to watch this regular American film masterpiece. No doubt, in the forefront of the queues, there were fans of a fantastic genre - and they will be - at the ticket offices. But, perhaps, other movie fans will also be interested in the film. They need at least some idea of what a spectacle awaits them.

The film is moderately saturated with special effects of computer manufacturing. This, to some extent, brings the moment when actors begin to play secondary roles in the screen narrative, giving way, finally, to the place created by creativity monsters. Technological age and art appropriate. Perhaps the movie of the future will look like an animated computer game, already played, edited and carefully assembled to provide better entertainment. Indeed, it is difficult to mimic the inner feelings of the character, if the face is wearing a mask, as in the blockbuster "Planet of the Apes" (2014). The feedback of those who have already had time to watch it, on the whole positive, they have a place and a wonderful sound, and careful study of details. The first screen version, they are usually not seen.