Final Film Critique: Planet of Apes
Student’s Name
Institution
Stage 1
Analysis: Contextual information
Planet of Apes is a science fiction movie that was produced in 1968 in the United States. The movie was released on the 27th march in 1968 and it was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. Planet of Apes is one of the most famous films and it has received praise from all corners of the world. The film has a lot of actors and actresses and they all had a role to play in making the film a success (Kaye, 2014). The major actors and actresses and their roles in the film are as follows. Mark Wahlberg played the role of Captain Leo Davidson, Tim Roth played the role of Thade, Helena Bohman Carter played the role of Ari, Michael Clarke Duncan is known as Attar in the film. Paul Giamatti played the role of Limbo, Estella Warren played the role of Daena whereas Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa played the role of Krull. David Warner was Sandar in the film, Kris Kristofferson was Karubi, Eric Avari was Tival, Lucas Elliot Eberl was Birn, Evan Parke was Gunnar, Glenn Shadix acted as Senator Nado, Chris Ellis as Commander Karl Vasich and Freda Foh Shen as Bon.
Other major characters include Anne Ramsay who acted as Lt. Col. Grace Alexander, Andrea Grano as Major. Maria Cooper, Michael James as Major. Frank Santos, Michael Wiseman as Specialist Hansen, Lisa Marie as Nova and Eileen Weisinger as Leeta. Different characters took different roles; there are those characters that played the role of human beings while there are other characters that played the role of gorillas. Some of the characters who played the role of Gorilla are Deep Roy who acted as Gorilla’s kid or Thade’s Niece, Chad Bannon as Red Ape soldier or Man Hunt Ape, Kevin Grevioux as Limbo first handler, Ape commander or second Ape soldier, Isaac Singleton Jn. as Limbo’s second handler or first Ape soldier and Quincy Taylor as Ape soldier. Other characters who played the role of apes are John Alexander as ape dinner guest, old man servant or old ape #1, Jay Caputo as first ape teenager or second ape soldier, Philip Tan as the second ape teenager or gossiping male ape, Howard Berger as the Gorilla and Rick Baker as old ape two.
There are characters that played a universal role, for example, Cameron Croughwell, Joshua Croughwell, Hannah Pietzman, Molly Pietzman, Jesse Tipton and Shane Habberstad played the role of the ape soccer kid. Eddie Adams, Todd Babcock, Lorenzo Callendar, Shondar Farr, Kam Heskin, Jim Holmes, Todd Kimsey, Candace Kroslak, Joana Krupa, Elizabeth Lackey, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Melody Perkins Tate Taylor and Jonna Giovanna played the role of friends at Leo’s party (Kaye, 2014). The rest of the major characters are Callie Croughwell who acted as the little human girl, Allie Habbestad as the girl pet, Bret Smrz as a human kid 1, Chet Zar as a fruit vendor and Linda Harrison as the woman in cart. Planet of Ape is a drama film and at the same is a fiction film.
The plot or story of planet of apes
The creativity behind the making of “Planet of Apes” left many people astonished. The idea and the story behind the film left a lot of viewers and filmmakers surprised. The film is about astronauts who landed on a planet that was full of apes. In the real sense, apes are wild mammals and only a few are domesticated. Despite apes having a physical body that almost resembles that of a human being, it has never crossed the mind of a man that an ape can be intelligent like or more than a human being. The writer of the film twists the reality by changing the ways of life on the ape planet.
The writer of the movie introduces the audience to a shocking scenario; a scenario where apes are more intelligent than human beings. Humans on the other side have devolved and they are ruled by the apes. In the ape planet, the human is less powerful compared to the ape. The apes are more advanced to an extent of having education institutions on their planet. The human beings are servant and slaves to the apes. The film’s plot interchanges events and exaggerates some. In real life, slavery is a past tense. There are no countries or societies that practice human slavery openly. However, in the film the ape society uses the human beings as slaves and servants.
Taylor is in the company of three of his fellow astronauts. The three are on a mission to explore a new planet. One of the astronauts dies in the space but the rest crush with the space ship. After crushing and escaping with minor injuries, the three start looking for help. The three are shocked by the state of the planet (Poland, 2015). The planet has a lot of similarities with the earth. To their surprise, the planet is inhabited. One of the most shocking scenarios in the film that the producer brings to the attention of the viewers is the inhabitation of the planet. In the process of looking for a safer place, the three astronauts come across apes. One of the most shocking events is when they realize that the apes are more intelligent and civilized. One of the astronauts is shot dead by the apes and the rest are taken into the custody of the apes. At this point, Taylor is more confused than worried. The events that are taking place seem like a dream to him. The apes are more advanced technologically but the human beings on the planet are not.
Aesthetic choices
The makers of the “planet of the apes” ensured that the movie is appealing and relates to the events that take place. The lighting of the film has been made perfect. It is easier to differentiate the events that take place at night and the events that take place during the day because of the equal distribution of light (Ward, 2003). To show how the apes are advanced technologically, the producer has ensured that the streets in the movie are well lighted up. When it comes to the scenes in the jungle and wilderness the producer ensures that little light is used so as to create a sense of reality in the scene.
The sound used in the film helps to prepare the audience for the next scene, by listening to the sound; it is easier for the viewer to predict what is likely to take place in the movie. One of the areas that the producers and the directors perfected on is costuming the apes. If one was to assume that he or she did not know that the movie was fictional; it would be easy for such a person to be convinced that the apes are real. The make-up used on the characters is astonishing (Kaye, 2014).
One of the reasons why some people would not sit to watch a fictional movie is because there are a lot of loopholes left in convincing the viewer that what he is watching is real. The ape characters have been dressed in a way that they resemble the apes from how they walk to how they look. The producer took a lot of different shots in the film so as to attract the undivided attention of the viewer. Most of the scenes do not take a lot of time and he has also ensured that the camera shots are taken from different angles so as to give the viewer a closer view of each and every scene in the movie.
Social and personal impact
Besides entertaining, the film impacted the society in different ways. The film brought about curiosity to the society. According to scientists, the earth is the only planet that supports life. Someone coming up with an idea that there might be a planet out there, which supports life and is ruled by apes created curiosity among many members of the society. The film industry is not only used to entertain but also to pass a message to the society. There are people who believe that ideas are always driven by a certain percentage of reality (Mamer, 2013). With such a thought it would not be easy to convince people that the film was just for entertainment purposes. There are those will believe that there might be a possibility of there being a planet that supports life other than the earth. The film has also impacted the manufacturing industry in a big way. Many companies capitalized on the fame of the film and manufactured T-shirts with the characters’ images and the title of the movie on them.
The society affected the film in a big way too. Before the creation of the film, there were books written about the planet of apes. The books gave birth to the production of the film. The reason why the movie was produced was to bring a clear picture of how it would be if there were apes controlling another planet (Kaye, 2014). The writer of the book was curious and to satisfy his curiosity, he decided to plan and write down the events that would take place of there was a planet ruled by apes. The film has left me thinking about the possibility of there being a planet that supports life. The events that take place in the movie left me wondering how it would be to be in such a scenario. We are in a free country and thinking that I would be a slave to an ape is humorous in a way and also shocking.
Stage 2
Reflection
Analyzing a movie helps one to have a clear understanding of the movie. There are movies that are not easy to understand. Analyzing helps one to gather each and every detail about the movie. By having all the details about a movie, it becomes easy for the viewer to understand the movie better. Analyzing a movie also makes one wiser in selecting a movie to watch in the future (Ward, 2003). By analyzing the movie it is easier for me to choose what to watch and what not to. In the past, choosing a movie to watch was not a big task; I could blindly select a movie and later watch it. Right now I am more informed about the best movies to watch. Film theory and criticism help me to analyze a movie and know more about how the events in the movie relate to the theme and the plot of the movie.
Movies have an impact on the society. The impact might be positive or negative depending on the type of the movie. There are movies that do not only entertain but also create employment. The release of “The planet of the apes” employed a lot of young men. The movie was on demand and to meet the demand of a lot of people had to be involved (Ward, 2003). The manufacturing companies, on the other hand, capitalized on the fame of the movie by printing clothes with the characters’ images and names.
Movies can also have a negative impact on the society, there are scenes that might be disturbing in a movie and such scenes might cause distress among the members of the society. Films that are against some cultures can also affect the society negatively. I have developed a number of skills in the process of analyzing the movie. I have improved on the decision-making process. I can now make wise decisions by analyzing situations before reaching to a conclusion. Gathering information about a film calls for patience I have learned to be patient in each and everything I do till I get satisfactory results.
Reference
Kaye, D. (2014). Human See, Human Do: A Complete History of ‘Planet of the Apes’. RetrievedFrom: http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/human-see-human-do-a-completehistory-of-planet-of-the-apes-20140701Mamer, B. (2013). Film Production Technique: Creating the Accomplished Image. New York:Cencage Learning.
Poland, J. (2015). Lights, Camera, Emotion: An Examination on Film Lighting. London:Routledge.
Ward, P. (2003). Picture Composition for Film and Television. London: Taylor and Francis.
