THE MOVIE- 4 stars out of 5
Planet of The Apes is the original and without a doubt the best of 5 Planet of the Ape films. If you can only add one of these films to your collection, this it is. The film is available as a single Blu-Ray disc and as part of a Planet of the Apes: 40 year Evolution Blu-Ray Collections which includes copies of all 5 films. Planet of the Apes is a true classic that deals with racial discrimination, religious intolerance as well as the perceived conflict between the pursuit of truth through science and religious dogma. Charleston Heston stars in the lead role of Taylor, an astronaut who along with three others, embarks on an 18 month journey to a planet in the Orion system at the speed of light for the purpose of colonizing the planet. While they are traveling at the speed of light for 18 months from their perspective, two thousand years passes by on the Earth. However, due to some sort of mechanical error, their ship crashes on the planet. Only three of the astronauts survive and they quickly find themselves on a planet where humans are mute and controlled by Apes, which are the more intelligent and advanced species. Taylor is a threat for the Apes as he is a human who can speak, read and write and reason at a level above and beyond their abilities. As a result, he is a threat to their religious beliefs that it is the Ape and not man who has a soul and is created in the image of God. Pretty powerful and thought provoking stuff. HIghly recommended.
THE VIDEO- 3 3/4 stars out of 5
While I loved the film, I was very disappointed with the video quality on this release. The film is encoded with AVC and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:35:1 on a 50 GB Blu-Ray disc. While the color palette of the film is accurate, it varies from scene to scene in the beginning of the film. This inconsistency is very noticeable in the color of the blue sky. In one scene, it is a very natural looking shade of blue and in another frame a weird blue-grey shade. Where the look of the film really disappoints however is in the level of clarity and detail which is well below what we have come to expect from Blu-Ray releases. Black level is mediocre as is the level of detail. The film looks overly soft with some scenes rather fuzzy looking. The scene in the cave near the end of the film is very fuzzy and looks to be no better than standard DVD. While most scenes look much better than that one and are clearly high def, they nonetheless look much softer than I would have expected, even for a film released in 1967. The recent Bond Dr. No and From Russia With Love releases look much better in comparison, night and day really. Perhaps Planet of the Apes is in need of a 4K Lowry restoration as well?
THE AUDIO- 3 1/2 stars out of 5
Given the age of the film I was not expecting much in the way of audio quality here and the film sounds pretty much as I expected it to. There is an English as well as a Spanish Mono track included as well as a French Dolby Digital 5.1 track. The one lossless track is a 5.1 mix encoded with DTS HD Master Audio. My review will focus on the latter. The original mono track has been remixed for a 5.1 and sounds like it. It is a rather disjointed mix sounding much less natural than a modern mix. The front sound field for example is not integrated well at all. While it is a 5.1 mix, the surround channels are rarely engaged resulting is a very front heavy mix. The overall sound of the film is a tad on the shrill side, sounding a bit harsher than a more modern release. Dynamics and bass response are substandard as well which also further detract from the audio presentation. Given the age of the film and the technical limitations of the original mono sound mix, I am not surprised by the lackluster audio presentation here, which probably sounds about as good as it can, given the limitations of the original source elements.
EXTRAS
This release contains many extras including audio commentaries by Roddy McDowell, Kim Hunter, Natalie Trundy and make-up artist John Chambers. Also included is an audio commentary by composer Jerry Goldsmith and a text commentary by the author of the book Planet of the Apes an American Myth, Eric Greene. Also included in HD are featurettes Science of the Apes, Evolution of Apes and Impact of the Apes, a Behind the Forbidden Zone game, Behind the Planet of the Apes Documentary, Behind the Planet of the Apes Promo, Archives of the original make-up, Roddy McDowell’s on set footage, dailies and outtakes as well as the original theatrical trailer and galleries.
IN CONCLUSION
Planet of the Apes is a classic and well deserves a place in the movie collection of any film lover. While the video and audio presentation here are lackluster, the film has never looked or sounded any better in the home environment. Perhaps a major restoration of the film will improve the video quality of the film even further. Until there, this is the best we have. Highly recommended.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
