5 Reasons Why The Planet Of The Apes Franchise Endures

3. A Pace That Builds

The first, third, fourth, and latest Apes movies each succeed because they build their stories well and leave distinct impressions, but again, each do so in their own different, fitting ways, making each story fresh or even innovative, and also providing an energy that keeps things going even through the more stale moments. The first movie€™s opening act has Taylor, Landon, and Dodge in the desert. It certainly creates an anticipation for what€™s to follow, but more than that, it creates a thoughtful, quiet, but intriguing stage where the characters can introduce the themes of the movie through their dialogue. It really is a major part of the movie. After the desert come those starkly ominous scarecrows. By the time the apes show up, our captivation pays off in spades. The third movie, Escape, also gives the astronauts€”now Cornelius, Zira, and Milo€”a chance to recover from their traumatizing experience to unpack their situation (same with the audience!). Rather than a desert, the chimpanzees face everyday life and are given a quiet place in a zoo to discuss their situation. It gives the audience time to become invested and care before the antagonist of the piece appears. Conquest organically builds Caesar€™s character, from his fear after shouting, €œLousy human bastard!€ to his knowing look at a guard who stops him from intervening in abuse toward other apes, and when the revolution starts, it€™s strikingly abrupt, but feels inevitable. And throughout the original five movies, it builds as a franchise. The first film was meant to be a stand-alone story, and clearly the second movie was capitalizing on it as it went along, but the third, fourth, and even the fifth movies build one large, cyclical story€”we can literally actually see it happening. I€™m not the biggest fan of Beneath, but it€™s still part of the overall story, so whenever I first see that mole tunnel in Conquest, my geek heartbeat always gets a bit faster. Also, through each moment and reversal, you can see a kind of bittersweet, pulp symphony building. One filmmaking element that helps in this is the music. Jerry Goldsmith composed the music for the first and third movies, and laid a foundation in each to build upon. The other movies use Goldsmith€™s cues (and sound effects from previous movies too) pretty well, pushing them forward and bringing them back. Rise of the Planet of the Apes builds well also, albeit a bit more stereotypically, but Serkis€™s performance really makes you feel for it (more on that later). And the movie clearly builds elements at the same time for future stories, like the Icarus mission.