Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Dir: Ted Post
1970
***
There is an interesting idea at the root of Beneath the Planet of the Apes (the follow up to the hit sci-fi classic Planet of the Apes) but unfortunately it undoes everything that was great about its predecessor. The premise is exactly the same except this Planet of the Apes is a Planet of Apes and Humans, which is less catchy in story as well as title. The film's interesting element is that of broken history and its effect on society, religion and culture, this time explored from both a human and simian perspective. The people beneath the planet are separated from the Apes who live on the surface and worship a big gold nuclear rocket, both species have lived simultaneously, although humans do live on the Surface, they are not as intelligent and haven't evolved as the ones below. It's fine, especially if you liked the first but it is in no way as strong as the first for the two simple reasons that a) We know it is Planet Earth of the future from the beginning and b) It's not a 'Planet of the Apes'. An interesting idea, and I like it - although probably for the wrong reasons (it's a terrible B-Movie and I love terrible B-movies), but it does feel like the original idea for the first before it was wisely re-written. A substandard episode of an original Star Trek episode at best. It seems shocking now to have even thought about doing a Planet of the Apes film without the great Roddy McDowall.