What's it about? Tim Burton's remake of the 1968 movie of the same name (itself an adaptation of Pierre Boulle's novel) stars Mark Wahlberg as Captain Leo Davidson, who crash lands on a world inhabited by talking apes after accidentally opening up a portal. He soon becomes a key player in a war for the freedom of humans who have been enslaved by their primate overlords. How does it end? After battling it out with the evil General Thade (Tim Roth), Davidson leaves the planet and crash lands back on Earth, only to discover that the Lincoln Memorial has become a monument to Thade, having taken over the planet with his primate companions. Why was it controversial? The twist ending to the original Planet Of The Apes, in which - spoiler alert! - Charlton Heston stumbles upon the Statue of Liberty and realises he's been on Earth all along, obviously wasn't going to be replicated here. But many thought this variation was absurd and more damningly inexplicable. The idea that Thade travelled back further in time than Leo is actually closer to the book than the original movie - the real problem lies in Burton's shoddy handling of the convoluted plot which he himself blamed on a rushed production.
