Revolt of the Empire of the Apes

Mark Polonia's sequel to "Empire of the Apes" is, difficult to describe without breaking the rule of "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

What's rough.

The masks seem to be from the same line I use for my monster ape in "Alien Vengeance: A Night Alone" and "Alien Vengeance II: Rogue Element".  The fact that I use similar masks should mean that I am completely accepting of them on screen.  I think part of the problem here is that they're on screen constantly and on creatures that speak lines.  Lots of lines.  They're lead characters, not just plodding monsters.  So, while I won't trash a movie for sub-par make-up or F/X (that would eliminate many of my favorite classics), I will say that you'll need to get over the obvious masks and suspend that disbelief for the entire movie.  A bit more difficult than ignoring a shortcoming that rears its ugly head in a shadowy scene every twenty minutes or so.  

The "inspiration"  "Revolt of the Empire of the Apes" draws from the better known "Planet of the Apes" franchise is obvious on the face on it.  However, if you're expecting a clever twist on that original franchise, you'll be disappointed.  This is straight forward man vs ape stuff.

The movie plods along a bit.  At just 67 minutes, being an action movie it should have felt like it was over before it started, but to be perfectly honest, I dozed off at one point and woke up just before it ended.  I rewound enough to make sure I didn't miss any devastatingly important plot devices (maybe I still did), but if I had guessed the length I would have put it closer to 80 or 90 minutes.

What works.

Let me get back to the masks.  They're rubbery and recognizable as store bought masks, but they are some of the best ones on the market.  If you watch the movie through the eyes of a viewer of the 60s, you may be able to get used them being characters enough in order to concentrate on the story.  The original "Planet of the Apes" make-up was ground breaking at the time, but even the sequels wound up using plain over the head masks for less important characters toward the end.

I thought the spaceships and weapons were pretty convincing.

Establishing shots and newscasts were used to create a "vast" Ape Empire for the story to take place in.  How convincing these devices were varied.  One shot of an orangutan guard was used quite a few times, but as a way of establishing location, it worked.  When cut into action that he seemed to be ignoring, it didn't.

The acting, to be honest, I could place in either category depending on the talent I'm talking about.  Like most independent movies of a near zero budget, it's a mixed bag of dedicated, capable professionals and well meaning aspiring actors.  At least most of the talent seemed to be distributed into the roles they were best suited for so that the very talented ones carried the heaviest weights.

I would have liked to have seen more of Tina Krause.

The opening scene sets up a pretty creepy atmosphere and there's a "reveal" that really isn't a big surprise, but it gives  you an idea of how the movie will go.

In Summary.

Don't watch this movie because you're expecting a blockbuster high budgeted movie like "Rise of the Planet of the Apes".  Honestly, the biggest problem this movie probably has is that it's not made for kids.  They might get a kick out of it.  One reviewer said of the original that it was like the Saturday morning shows he remembers from being a kid and I guess this is a good comparison as far as the production values are concerned.  If you're up for a more violent version of the 60s and 70s live action TV shows that covered Saturday morning airwaves decades ago, then you'll enjoy this. If you're looking for Hollywood polish and CG characters, scroll on by.