Quartile rating: 5.5/10 · 1 rating
The fifth and final episode in the Planet of the Apes series. After the collapse of human civilization, a community of intelligent apes led by Caesar lives in harmony with a group of humans. Gorilla General Aldo tries to cause an ape civil war and a community of human mutants who live beneath a destroyed city try to conquer those whom they perceive as enemies. All leading to the finale.
The weakest entry in the original Planet of the Apes series, Battle for the Planet of the Apes suffers from a noticeably reduced budget, a thin and repetitive plot, and uninspired direction. The conflict between Caesar's apes, General Aldo's gorillas, and the underground mutants feels rushed and underdeveloped. Acting is workmanlike at best, with even Roddy McDowall unable to elevate the material much. Cinematography is flat and functional, lacking the visual invention of earlier entries. As a conclusion to the series it wraps things up in a perfunctory fashion, and the framing device with the Lawgiver adds little resonance. While it retains some of the series' thematic concerns about power and racial harmony, it executes them clumsily. The lowest-budgeted film of the franchise, it feels like a diminished retread of ideas already better explored in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.