DarthVoorhees I am going back and revisiting the Apes films from the original series. I had only seen the first three before and so this is the first time I am seeing it and WOW. 'Conquest' is a violent shift in tone. The 'Apes' films were always sort of political but this one is on a whole other level. The story finds Caesar, son of Zira and Cornellius, grown to manhood in a dystopian future where apes are used as slaves. Over the course of the film he is constantly abused and goes mad and leads an ape revolution. This is a dark and angry film and it's hard to believe Fox didn't get scared and cut the thing even more so than it is (the ending is butchered in the editing room). Its hard not to infer Marxist metaphor in the story of Caesar's revolution and his hatred of slavery. Does it work? Yes and no. Roddy McDowell gets a far more juicier role to the play. He's great. The movie isn't fun though. There's no sense of humor or camp value to anything. It just gets kind of depressing seeing men in ape costumes endure abuse. I suppose it achieves everything it sets out to do but camp fun and self aware humor is what made this series. The original is a very funny and biting satire despite it's political undertones. This one is 100% earnest.

joshuadrake-91275 Based on the strong positive response to Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Fox ordered Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, though it provided a comparatively low budget of $1.7 million. Paul Dehn returned as the scriptwriters and the producers hired J. Lee Thompson to direct.Thompson had worked with Jacobs during the planning stages of the first film, but scheduling conflicts had made him unavailable to participate in the series. For this film, Thompson and Dehn focused heavily on the racial associated the apes with African-Americans and modeled the plot after the 1966 Watts Riots and other episodes from the Civil Rights Movement.Following the events of the third film, this film is set in a near future where humans have turned apes into slaves, Caesar rises from bondage to lead an ape rebellion.The story is amazing and confusing as well, but I like it because it is like that. The action is over-the-top, but it works and is really fantastic. The music is really good as well and the other films musical scores' were amazing, well, with exception of "Beneath the Planet of the Apes".The acting is just amazing and dreadful at the same time. Roddy McDowall plays Caesar again, the son of his previous character Cornelieus.The late Ricardo Montalban returned as Armando and he does a good job as well. The new members including Don Murray, Severn Darden and Hari Rhodes playing new roles and they are really amazing in this film and the acting could have never been better.The music in the film is just stupid, but a few themes are amazingly well done and the make-up / visuals are really good and fantastic.Overall, CONQUEST OF THE PLANET of the APES is a little confusing, but spectacular in a few areas and I give this film a 6/10.

SnoopyStyle It's 20 years after the apes from the future landed. Apes are now trained to do all the menial jobs. Every cat and dog died 8 years ago in 1983. The world is a semi-fascist state where apes are no more than slaves. Senor Armando (Ricardo Montalban) is hiding the fact that Caesar (Roddy McDowall) is the intelligent offspring of Cornelius and Zira. An unguarded outburst leaves Caesar hiding among the regular ape population while Armando is interrogated by the authorities. MacDonald is Governor Breck's assistant and they buy Caesar only to discover his intelligence later on.The setup is pretty stupid. It's too much to turn on the ape revolution so quickly. The whole thing is rather silly and lacks any believable whatsoever. I do have sympathy for the difficulties of closing out this circular story loop. Honestly, some of the apes seem highly inefficient and some of their work seem comical. The use of slavery images is good but the apes should do tougher jobs like mining. The battle for the city is pretty silly where guns are always overwhelmed and the guards never look behind them. The governor's speech is nonsense. Much of this movie is nonsense too.

jerekra Conquest of the Planet of the Apes is the fourth of the Apes series. It is my third favorite of the films and a pretty dark and entertaining film.Armando takes Caesar to the city where Caesar witnesses how humans mistreat apes. Caesar curses at a few humans who torture a chimpanzee and Armando takes the blame for it since any ape who can talk would be known to be the offspring of Zira and Cornelius. Eventually Caesar starts to lead a ape rebellion.I like the story and tone of this film. It is set in a cold dark setting so that makes you want to root for Caesar. It is definitely the darkest of the first five ape films and has a lot of parts that might disturb younger audiences. I kind of like how dark it is, I always was a fan of darker films sometimes.Another thing this film has going for it is that Roddy McDowall returns to play Caesar this time. Its cool that he plays Caesar as he also played Cornelius so he is playing his own son. He gives one of his best performances in this film, maybe his best from the apes series. Roddy is always great in these films.Supporting characters are OK. I liked Mcdonalds character as he sympathizes with the apes. Also Ricardo Montalbon is great again as Armando. The rest of the characters are OK. Nothing too special.Towards the end this film has some good action packed scenes. But they really lead up to it and build suspense as you see the apes start rebelling and smuggling weapons.A few complaints. Some of the apes in the background clearly are just wearing masks. Caesar and the main apes look great, but not all of them do. That was probably due to budget restraints though. Also like I said before there are some pretty dark parts that show apes being tortured so I don't think this is the most kid friendly ape film. Its not the worst thing out there, but from the first five it definitely has the most disturbing scenes with torture.Overall I really liked this film. It is dark and that makes it stand out. Roddy McDowall is also great. I recommend it.