Review of Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) by Kenny S — 10 Mar 2011

A sequel to such a fantastic film, especially one that leaves little open, is bound to have problems. Luckily, despite adding to a story that didn't really need adding to, it isn't nearly as bad as it could have been.

Heston took on only a small role, appearing only briefly at the beginning and ends of the film. That is definitely the most detrimental element of the whole thing, because introducing Brent and then introducing him to the whole Planet of the Apes world and Nova, then giving him the realization that he is actually on Earth, it just feels like "Previously on Planet of the Apes".

So as a result the really interesting new plots for the film are sort of truncated. So what is beneath the Planet of the Apes? Turns out its humans that speak. Not only speak, but also seem to be the descendants of survivors of the atomic fallout, and have developed mind control powers.

And they worship an unexploded nuclear bomb (another Futurama joke now got). It is all interesting and adds new things to the franchise, but unfortunately the real meat of the plot is sort of rushed in a half hour after all the slowed down plot stuff of Brent.

Definitely could have been better, but honestly could have been tons worse considering they needed to add on to a film that warranted no sequel (beyond the box office) and had a lead actor only agreeing to do a few scenes.