Planet of the Apes (1968)

Knavish big budget foolery that's nonetheless breathtaking in that sci-fi nerd kind of way, Planet of the Apes achieves if nothing else the questioning of prejudice. If often times it all seems a bit dumb, by the end you feel a bit hoaxed. It's a sucker punch, especially to the critic who mulls each detail, looking for weak points to expose the myth, to call out the prophet as a charlatan. Meanwhile, running with the thesis, it should have been obvious all along, and we were gullible enough to be strung along.

A group of astronauts are sent on a deep space expedition, the apparent objective of which is as much to prove the theory of time condensation at near-light speed as it is to explore and conquer outer space, expanding "our" (American) empire. Shit happens and they crash on an unknown or unplanned planet; the female trooper dies along the way, her corpse a prescient ape-like effigy. Soon they discover life, and a species of mute hominids, but are then captured by talking, riding, weapon yielding apes, the kings of the food chain on this "upside down" planet. When the apes in charge of the plainly dumb, backwards religious orthodoxy discover that Taylor (Charlton Heston) is smarter than they are, they persecute him out of fear.

The spine of the narrative is a tired diatribe of a kind of Victorian renunciation of scientific heresies, the stupidity of which is only eclipsed by its sheer audacity as a red herring. The entire thing is in fact a marvellous deception, yet, there's the thing. It makes sense, but only in hindsight, and thus doesn't evoke transcendence, because pulling a trick from up your sleeve - as opposed to directly relating sublime experience - never will.

And then there's the diegetic speeches and monologues, smug at times, used as short cuts to grand ideas, typical of director Schaffner, who is as annoying as ever. While taken as a whole, this thing is a bit of a mainstream farce, the great consolation is that it manages to be auto-critical, what with its ending on a cloud of doubt on the merits of scientific knowledge. Credit it also for at least pledging its nihilism early on, and after much silliness in between, ultimately sticking to it.