Planet Of The Apes:Evolution Collection Blu-ray

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 31 Dec 2008, 19:29

Just watched the USA Region A set of these 5 films,though dated in parts they remain pretty nostalgic and enjoyable to me.

Planet Of The Apes 4/5

The first and best in the series, Charlton Heston plays Taylor who along with a couple of astronauts crashlands onto what he thinks is another planet,one ruled by Apes.though sluggish in parts this remains essential viewing with an iconic final sequence.Transfer is decent but it doesn't pop off the screen.

Beneath The Planet Of The Apes 2.5/5

Inferior follow up remained a source of frustration in my early years,as it was given an AA certificate meaning i couldn't see it at the cinema initially.similar set up to the first one,James Franciscus plays another astronaut sent on a mission to find Taylor. Charlton Heston returns but is only in the film at the beginning and end,on the plus side Linda Harrison as Nova gets more screen time.transfer looks better than the first film,though the reprise footage at the start looks worse strangely.

Escape From The Planet Of The Apes 3/5

Cornelius, his wife and Dr Milo repair The astronaut ship and fly back to the present time just before the events of Beneath take hold.what starts out as an amusing fish out of water tale (the apes are treated as celebrities by the media) takes a darker turn at half way and by the end is pretty bleak .probably the best transfer of the 5.

Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes 4/5

Wow watching the unrated version of this proved a revelation,very strong and unremitting with the last 25 minutes non-stop brutality,humans getting torched,apes being shot point blank in the face,ape torture etc. the original was pretty strong,this is much stronger Don Taylor is ruthlessly beaten to death in this,in the original he's allowed to live transfer is a little on the dark side,probably due to the source material.Ricardo Montbaltan reprises his role as the circus owner in this one.

Battle For The Planet Of The Apes 2.5/5

The series limps to it's conclusion with this rather weak effort.Apes and humans are living happily enough side by side until Caesar decides to go to the forbidden city in search of his past,living there are human survivors who decide to go to war with the apes. entertaining enough with a nice transfer.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 03 Jan 2009, 16:19

Another one I managed to miss.

Conquest a is a favourite of mine, easily the best of the sequels. I've wanted to see that unrated footage for ages. I always thought your second spoiler was how it should've panned out.

The original ending doesn't give the apes as much to hate humans for. I'll definitely have to pick this one up.

though the reprise footage at the start looks worse strangely.

I seem to recall it always looking worse.

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 03 Jan 2009, 19:46

i believe the uk release has only 1 cut of Battle and Conquest,ditches the isolated scores on those 2 and comes without the gorgeous 200 page book the usa release has.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 03 Jan 2009, 21:18

Thanks for that. The extended cuts are a MUST.

Fox didn't give us the Extended Battle on DVD as they cheekily re-used the old anamorphic masters (from the original DVDs) but on HD there's no excuse.

The HD Box set is too much for me to bother any time soon though.