Ten years following his revolution and a devastating nuclear war among humans, Caesar embarks on a quest to learn about his parents, and in doing so discovers the future. Battle for the Planet of the Apes is by nearly all means the worst film of the original five (though I've only seen the extended cut, so whether this version is better or worse than the theatrical I am unsure of). After "Conquest", the studio wanted to make a less-violent, less-provocative, and more "family-friendly" film (and for way less money). This resulted in the least-exciting, least-intelligent, and most cringe-worthy final chapter possible.First thing: I should clarify for some viewers that the apes did not conquer Earth. Many people have pointed out how that wouldn't make sense, and that's because it doesn't, and didn't happen anyway. There was a large scale nuclear war among humans, so the apes moreso "inherited" the planet despite the misleading implications of the films' titles. I digress. . . .J. Lee Thompson reprises his role as director for the second time with "Battle", and flaws that were only starting to peek into the limelight in "Conquest" have now manifested into their full forms. The central flaw, is overall laziness. For example, the film starts with about five-minutes of reused-footage from the former two films (making it even lazier than the opening shot of "Beneath"). To its credit, there's more reused footage later on that's incorporated more intelligently. Furthermore, there's also supposed to be a three-day journey in the film, but no attempt in editing or direction is made to assist the viewer's perception of passing time. The battle sequences are overlong (which causes them to become boring) and are comprised largely of close- ups and quick cuts. The swindling budget no-doubt influenced these points, but the prevailing lack of forethought/effort should be more than evident regardless. Paul Dehn returns for his fourth Apes film in a writing role, but this time only for story. The screenplay for "Battle" is written for newcomers John and Joyce Corrington, and is rather capricious in quality. There are yet a handful of things to praise, such as the relationship and parallels between humans and apes, and the commentary on determinism/time-travel presented through the corny and belief-disarming tear coming from Caesar's statue at the end. The most notable strength however is its quotability. For example, the "All knowledge is for good, only the use to which it is put can be for good or evil" quote seemed rather insightful and wise, though within the same vein of this strength lies some of the film's greatest weaknesses. The film is quite simply unsure of how to incorporate the same sensibilities of its predecessors, such as its allegorical content or theoretical musings, so it resorts to having the characters say the ideas outright in conversation. These ideas are often very interesting, but lose potency when presented in contrived dialogue, which is also at times aggressively expository. Further weaknesses of various trades are present as well, including the jump in Caesar's character development (from one film to the next) with little to no insight or explanation surrounding it, the campy, cringy mutants, and the irritating, preachy, theistic fable format. Above any other offense though, the nuances of the franchise's central allegory have been sucked dry (along with the budget). The commentary on race has subsided more so in this film than in its predecessors, making way instead for its own internal form of racism. Not enough time has passed since the acquired intelligence of apes to accommodate for the severe class disparities among their society, and instead it comes off as an unintentional statement that some apes are less equal than others. Take for example the accentuated intelligence of orangutans contrasted with the caricatured gorillas, who in this film are basically just violent, unintelligible children. The 1968 film presented a layered relationship between class structure, social structure, and race with nuances and insight, but in "Battle" it's handled so thoughtlessly as to be potentially offensive.The performances in this film are also at their weakest in the franchise, with scenes causing you to wonder if they actually considered doing multiple takes for anything. The actor who portrays Aldo is bad much of the time, though every so often he accomplishes a decent performance when it comes to menacing stares or general physicality. Roddy McDowall is again fine as Caesar, Paul Williams is interesting as Virgil, and Natalie Trundy improves a lot in this compared to the former entry (still not a great as an ape, but not distractingly bad either). Many of the actors don't seem to have gotten the hang of acting in the prosthetics, not having fully developed the techniques that the actors crafted in the first film. Austin Stoker as MacDonald's brother was one of the better performers in the film. The sets are actually very nice, and are maybe the one truly redeeming aspect of the film. The tree-forts and tunnels and location paintings are all exciting and interesting in their own right. The music by Leonard Rosenman however is some of the most lackluster of the franchise. Besides a singular theme that seems to be applied vaguely to "emotional content", the music was either borderline hokey or simply muddy and unmemorable. Upon further deliberation, it seems that this score along with Rosenman's "Beneath" have the least personality of the bunch. That being said, the score is still competent, and I can't hold too much against it for that.As a Planet of the Apes fan, I've found myself obligated to multiple viewings of this film, and have even found it within myself to enjoy it. So if you're a Planet of the Apes fan, you may have a good time despite its flaws. . . .But it's still not a well-made film.Score: 5/10

As a child of the 70's my imagination was ignited by the Planet of the Apes series. I saw Battle at a drive in...and when my parents refused to take me back for a second viewing I behaved in a way that makes me cringe to remember. But this is extent the film had on my young mind. It was only until recent that I learned of the negative response which seems a little extreme. It is obvious that the budget made the film look a little cheap and the story is a bit thin but the characters still make up for these flaws and still has plenty of dramatic moments.I don't hold the opinion that Battle is the worst of the series. I am of the opinion that Beneath is my least favorite and one I rarely re watched and seems like a rehash of the first with only a few slight variations. It is the one that captures my imagination the least. It is Conquest which I think is by far the best and the most satirical.Battle should not be so quickly dismissed because of it's limitations. The performances are pretty solid and everyone gets a chance to have a dramatic moment. Perhaps the message of the film can be seen as bit heavy handed by a modern audience and certainly could have been explored deeper had it not been for those limitations. It can come across as just a routine action flick between the survivors of a greater war and now just beginning to rebuild their own cultures. The human mutants are very superficial and one-dimensional. They are the bad guys of the story with the obligatory final confrontation. Over all it is a satisfying conclusion ending to the original series---warts and all.

I conclude my original PLANET of the APES film series review, with the fifth and final film, BATTLE FOR THE PLANET of the APES.After the success and mixed reaction of CONQUEST OF THE PLANET of the APES, Fox said that this would be the last film in the original series of the APES film. J. Lee Thompson returned as director. Series writer Paul Dehn submitted a treatment, but illness forced him to leave the film before completing the script and John William Corrington and Joyce Hooper Corrington to write the screenplay. This film also continued Conquest's focus on racial conflict, like the other two films for me.BATTLE follows Caesar as he leads the apes and their human subjects after a devastating war that destroyed much of the planet. He contends with both an attack by radiation-scarred human mutants and a coup attempt as he attempts to build a better society for both apes and humans.This story is actually, along with BENEATH THE PLANET of the APES, is the second worst of the series. While I like the direction of this film, I could not stand the way the story was written out. The Corringtons just took this story and ruined it in the best way that they possibly can.The make-up and effects -- this was the only movie for me that I think that none of those are really great -- the filmmakers had only a small budget of $1.2. million dollars and that is just cheap. The make-up is stupid, and the visuals are cheesy and out of place.The music in this film was terrible and the pacing of this movie is short, but is way too short. The movie is supposed to be an hour and something minutes long but this movie is just crazy and awkward in the whole darn thing.The acting is just dreadful. Only credit that will be given is to Roddy McDowall as Caesar, he does a great job. The other actors is just out there and makes very little effort to put on good performances. The only performance kind of worth mentioning is John Huston as the Lawgiver, but even then his performance is physically over-the-top.So, overall, I hate BATTLE FOR THE PLANET of the APES as well and this is getting a 2.3 out of 10.

A bit of a curate's egg, really. It's definitely the weakest of the original films but it's very good in places. Its first 30-35 minutes and its last 15-20 minutes are definitely the best bits. The stuff in between seems rather listless. On the bright side, Roddy McDowall is as good as ever and Severn Darden is very good as Kolp, the only villain other than Dr. Zaius to appear in more than one of the films. It's a shame that neither Don Murray nor Hari Rhodes returned though as Breck and the first MacDonald are two of the strongest human characters in the film series. Unfortunately, while I liked him in everything else that I've seen him in, I didn't really enjoy Claude Akin's performance as General Aldo. It was far too over the top, I'm afraid. Natalie Trundy, who appeared in all four of the sequels, is very effective as Lisa. Though they only appear in small roles, Noah Keen, France Nuyen and Paul Stevens are very good as Abe, Alma and Mendez respectively.Of the new characters, Virgil (in particular) and the second MacDonald were my favourites. The film also featured very nice cameos by film legends John Huston and Lew Ayres as the Lawgiver and Mandemus respectively. I watched the version which restored the deleted scenes concerning the Alpha-Omega bomb and, while they are both quite brief, their inclusion helps bring the series full circle as it ties in brilliantly with "Beneath the Planet of the Apes". It also makes the tear from Caesar's statute all the more tragic / poignant since it helps remind us of the world's ultimate fate. (I've always taken the view that Cornelius and Zira were fulfilling their role in history in travelling back in time rather than altering it).While it would have been nice if the film series had ended on a high, the film is still quite enjoyable, if rather uninspired in parts.