Escape from the Planet of the Apes
Starring: Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Bradford Dillman, Ricardo Montalban
Director: Don Taylor
Synopsis: The Apes arrive on modern day Earth to a warm welcome initially...
Reviewed by: Omar Khan

The Third in a rapidly deteriorating series of films based on the classic Pierre Boulle novel is partially rescued by its fairly potent moral though not enough to save it from being a largely unmemorable and mediocre effort. This time around we have what looks like Taylor's space ship arriving back to earth and upon arrival it is met by a bevy of excited US Government stiffies. Much to their horror, instead of Taylor and friends three Apes wearing space suits confront them.

The apes that are known to us from the previous Apes movie (Zera, Cornelius and Milo) are treated with typical human disdain until they are allowed to express themselves upon which they become the darlings of an adoring nation. However suspicious minds start realizing that these Apes are from a future where mankind has been subdued and that somehow by thwarting them at this stage (we are supposedly back in time from the Apes era by about 200 years) we will be able to continue mankind's dominance of the planet for centuries to come. Thus the Apes who are guests on one day are suddenly being hunted down in order to ensure the preeminence of the human race.

The race is on to see whether the Apes will be able to find a way to escape from the barbarism of humanity or whether the noose will slowly begin to tighten around them as they have no way of returning to their future. Though the story is fairly interesting - the film unfortunately has the feel of a TV serial and lacks style and big screen resonance. There is a certain flatness to proceedings with absolutely no element of tension being injected into proceedings at any stage. Though the acting is ok, the script is emaciated and the film lacks woefully at the dramatic level with hardly a scene to quicken the pulse or to make one chew a nail in tension.

The film is about as exciting as an episode of Marcus Welby MD with about the same production values. Perfectly inoffensive, but equally dull and uninteresting is this particular installment of the Apes saga, and if the others are any worse - they could make for pretty laborious viewing. Any film that has Ricardo Montalban in the cast must be regarded with a certain amount of suspicion after all.