Like many fans of the original Apes franchise, I was expecting a lot more after the apocalyptic Beneath. This one is a comedown; it would have made a decent 60 or 70 min TV movie, but has neither the scope nor the impending sense of doom that pervades the first two.
The teaser opening, with Cornelius, Zira and Milo returning to preset day Earth is captivating. But it's completely undeveloped, and what should have been the underpinning for the story becomes a throwaway hook. The big questions raised but unanswered are: how did they recover Taylor's ship, repair and learn to fly it? Are they here as prophets? What else could they have brought with them? Instead we get a disposable "genius" character, Milo, who's quickly strangled by a zoo gorilla.
The rest plays like a Quinn-Martin crime drama. Despite solid performances, the hyperbolic threat of we-must-kill-them-to-save-Mankind is painfully simplistic.
Escape is for completists only, and can easily be skipped to the next, and far better follow-up, Conquest.
The teaser opening, with Cornelius, Zira and Milo returning to preset day Earth is captivating. But it's completely undeveloped, and what should have been the underpinning for the story becomes a throwaway hook. The big questions raised but unanswered are: how did they recover Taylor's ship, repair and learn to fly it? Are they here as prophets? What else could they have brought with them? Instead we get a disposable "genius" character, Milo, who's quickly strangled by a zoo gorilla.
The rest plays like a Quinn-Martin crime drama. Despite solid performances, the hyperbolic threat of we-must-kill-them-to-save-Mankind is painfully simplistic.
Escape is for completists only, and can easily be skipped to the next, and far better follow-up, Conquest.