All knowledge is for good. Only the use to which you put it can be good or evil.

Battle for the Planet of the Apes
(1973)

Certainly more interesting than I remembered it to be, if somewhat unfocussed in trying to hammer out a story from the various remaining dangling plot strands.

Severn Darden's return as (now) Governor Kolp added a welcome slice of humour. His apocalyptic convoy is very proto-Mad Max. Paul Williams is well cast as Virgil, and nice to see Austin Stoker of Assault on Precinct 13 fame. The trek to the Forbidden Zone seems to be an excuse to kick-start the conflict rather than being needed for plot reasons.

And it was very fortunate that the discovered film footage was so well-preserved. Like Conquest, the extended battle becomes a tad tiresome. I skipped through the deleted scenes on the Blu-ray; the only bits that would have added something were the doomsday bomb, the absence of which strikes a more upbeat note for the ending.

Overall, I was impressed that the sequels maintained a decent grasp on the original's philosophical themes throughout, even balanced against a no-frills approach to seeing the sequels as a money-making machine.

**1/2

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Now In Full Color, with a Happier Ending

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