9 Seriously Smart Movies That Trick You By Having Two Twists
6. They Really Made A Monkey Out Of Him - Planet Of The Apes
The Movie: The twist at the end of Planet Of The Apes is so well known it's taken as essential pre-knowledge for the rest of the franchise (and that's saying nothing of DVD covers), but that ignores the rest of the movie, which looks at the societal implications of the idea of ape society; there's a distinct class structure built around race, an obsession with religion and deep secrets about the ape's true history.
The First Twist: What's hidden in the Forbidden Zone isn't what you'd expect; there's an archeological dig site with artefacts from an old homo-sapien society, including a human doll that can talk. Turns out that man was once the dominant species on this strange planet, but by its own folly destroyed itself. For cynic Taylor this is almost enough to damn all of humanity to hell. Almost.
The Second Twist: It's one thing to suspect, it's another to know. After decrying all apes, from Chimpan-a to Chimpan-z, Taylor heads off deeper into the Forbidden Zone to discover this isn't just a planet like Earth; it is Earth. The Statue of Liberty sticking out of the sand is one of the most enduring sci-fi images, and one of the film's biggest divergences from the book; in Pierre Boulle's novel, the hero leaves the totally different world, only to discover a similar evolutionary reversal has happened on his home (so Tim Burton's ending then).