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Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Beneath the Planet of the Apes
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Beneath the Planet of the Apes

Beneath the Planet of the Apes

1970
Drama, Sci-fi
1h 35m
In an effort to find the missing astronaut Taylor (Charlton Heston), James Fransiscus goes on a rescue mission to the planet of the apes... (imdb)

Beneath the Planet of the Apes

1970
Drama, Sci-fi
1h 35m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 35% from 1021 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(1027)
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Rated 07 Jul 2014
50
21st
In one of the countless billions of galaxies in the universe, lies a sassy movie watcher, and on this night, what joy the Planet of the Apes had, is now dead.
Rated 05 Jun 2014
43
37th
Popularly held as the worst of the original five films (the correct answer is Battle), BtPotA gets a lot of deserved flack for casting a replacement Heston to cover for the fact that the original wanted out of the franchise. Something that's barely touched upon that could have been interesting is the friction between Zaius and Ursus. As flawed as it is though, the idea of a doomsday nuke-worshipping mutant cult tickles this Fallout player.
Rated 08 Jan 2010
74
48th
In spirit it's a good sequel, but it just doesn't capture the magic of the original, on top of that the freshness of the story is absent from this one. I'm glad Heston, Hunter, Harrison, and Rooney have reprises in their roles, but unfortunately they are put by the wayside to make room for new characters.
Rated 14 Aug 2009
28
9th
The irony and intelligence that original "Planet of the Apes" has, is nowhere to be seen here. All that is left is extremely cheesy pessimistic sci-fi flick. I had good time laughing from this film, but it's a terrible sequel. But hey, there's plenty of Nova. Nova riding a horse, Nova climbing the ladder, Nova being scared, Nova being curious. Nova is cute. I wonder if gorillas wrote the script for this film.
Rated 21 Feb 2008
61
36th
Just crazy enough to be watchable.
Rated 18 Feb 2018
69
22nd
Although the ending, incredibly, manages to be even more shocking than the 1st film's climax, this much too slowly paced sequel takes far too long to get there. And although it wisely expands what societal problems it chooses to metaphorically comment on (this time it's a hawkish military, religious righteousness & nukes), it feels silly when they're no longer metaphors (the protestors). The underground race of telepaths is intriguing but their utter helplessness at the end is pure contrivance
Rated 04 Sep 2017
60
45th
The restricted budget does show, especially as far as the apes are concerned, and the themes and story are less fascinating. Still, "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" is an interesting sequel for two main reasons: a) it does offer its fair share of thrills and b) it takes many liberties with the material, which means that you'll have to bear with several inconsistencies and improbabilities but also that this is far from the textbook, predictable sequel and more like a daring, if flawed, expansion.
Rated 21 May 2017
58
26th
If you're curious about the number of horses that died in the making of this movie, a conservative estimate is literally every single one.
Rated 26 Oct 2015
75
29th
The complete insanity of the final half hour kind of makes up for the dull retread of the beginning.
Rated 13 Nov 2014
74
63rd
I like this movie for its weirdness and campy yet grim story.
Rated 04 Oct 2012
80
47th
The best ending ever.
Rated 19 Jul 2012
73
23rd
Weird!!
Rated 19 Dec 2011
55
40th
Underfunded and undercooked. A waste of potential. There were a few interesting disparate elements that never really fit together, leading to this weird feeling that you're watching two half-movies. The earlier subway scenes were creepy as hell, though. The only part of the movie really worth going back to.
Rated 23 Aug 2011
58
46th
This bizarre sequel, a kind of supernatural sci-fi -- with Nova still smiling all the time and a funny but unconscious crossover with Dr. Strangelove -- develops absurd ideas, but actually is ended with the same pessimism of the original feature. Insane.
Rated 28 Dec 2009
20
6th
Okay, what the fuck happened in the last half of the movie? I mean, I know what happened, but fuck it was boring. The first half was almost passable. (Well, maybe that's stretching it. The only thing remotely interesting was the Ape politics. Nothing else mattered.) The second half was bad, BAD sci-fi minus Apes or anything interesting. I don't want anybody to be confused. Planet of the Apes was good sci-fi. Beneath the Planet of the Apes is bad sci-fi. This movie is irredeemable.
Rated 02 May 2009
85
82nd
It's very poorly executed, but it's very very brave and interesting. A complete surprise, a different kind of sequel.
Rated 20 Dec 2008
81
51st
No, it isn't as good as the first, but it's even more bizarre. It's not a great movie, but it's great to describe to people
Rated 18 Oct 2008
2
23rd
'Beneath' continues the anti-war statements of the first film. The twist wasn't quite as revolutionary - almost expected. Of course the nuclear cult was waay over the top..so thats where the designers of 'Wasteland' and 'Fallout' got the idea
Rated 15 Oct 2008
64
12th
Not as great as the original movie and considerably bleak in its outlook, but there are still several elements from this movie that have become classic in the Sci Fi genre.
Rated 17 Sep 2008
51
29th
Pretty sure they had no idea where to take this one after act 2.
Rated 29 Aug 2007
35
26th
Although it leans quite heavily on its predecessor, this is nowhere near as good. The first two thirds are fairly creditable as a B-movie, but as soon as the mutant humans are introduced this takes on the tone of a very ordinary installment of Dr. Who or Buck Rogers or some other third-rate SF serial. Nonetheless, for the violence and bleakness of vision, the ending does pack some punch. Standout performance this go-around is from character actor James Gregory as the militant gorilla Ursus.
Rated 26 May 2024
61
25th
Beneath the Planet of the Apes begins by recapping the end of the previous film before getting Franciscus to re-enact it in a speed run. There's a decent bit of world-building with the distinct factions of apes, but the film lacks any real character growth arcs. A few interesting ideas develop in the latter half but they're poorly executed and boil down to a clunky cold war analogy. The ending would have been impressive had the events leading up to it not been so dumb. A lacklustre sequel.
Rated 07 May 2024
36
18th
"Beneath the Planet of the Apes," the second installment in the original science fiction series, doesn't quite live up to the first film in terms of storytelling. The character dynamics miss the captivating charm of its predecessor, making it a challenging and somewhat disappointing sequel to sit through.
Rated 04 May 2024
52
52nd
This runs off logically from the first movie and progresses the world building solidly but around the second half it introduces this entirely new race of humans which run against the themes of humanity's natural decline depicted in the first film and then leads into being a hamfisted and awkward attempt at Cold War commentary which is done with far less grace than the ending of the first movie. The ending here was also awkward in terms of how it conveys its long term consequences.
Rated 18 Feb 2024
40
17th
Everything seems cheaper in this sequel - the monkey makeup is now just masks, the special effects are comical, and Heston has been replaced with a lookalike. I do like many of the underground sets, the story and the world building (the planet now contains mutant, mind-reading humans!) but this one is just a snoozer. Seems like the filmmakers might have felt this way, as well, as they literally nuke the whole planet at the end - by pressing a Superman '78 Fortress of Solitude crystal, no less!
Rated 18 Dec 2023
59
43rd
Gets going pretty decently by the time it honors its moniker, but starts off cold and ends on a bit of an abrupt and off-puttingly grand note.
Rated 04 Dec 2023
3
28th
I was today years old when I learned that Charlton Heston was in a second Planet of the Apes movie; you could have knocked me over with a feather when I found out, I had no idea. The first half of the movie is more or less a soft remake of the original. Then it goes HOG WILD with weird religious cult psychic human mutants living underground worshipping a nuclear bomb, and I normally support a movie going wild just for the novelty but in this case I’m not sure it was a good thing lol.
Rated 12 Apr 2023
57
20th
A bit of a repeat of its predecessor until, suddenly, it is very different. What is beneath the planet is certainly odd and then concludes in a way to try and up the ante on bleakness.
Rated 11 Mar 2023
50
27th
first thoughts about this was ”how hard is this gonna flop?” and the answer is that it’s totally bombed
Rated 15 Apr 2022
10
10th
Genuinely felt like I wasted time, only thing good about the movie were the logistics of the Ape armies. Otherwise just bland and a laughable/lazy plot and ending. I thought the new Planet of the Apes movies were bad, but lord, this was just a bastardized lazy sequel to the iconic first movie.
Rated 20 Sep 2020
65
64th
What on Planet of the Apes happened here?
Rated 06 Dec 2019
65
29th
Top badass moment? The end; a great way to finish off a franchise for good. Wait, what? Now I'll admit, I don’t know a lot about nuclear weapons, but that looked an awfully small rocket to destroy the whole planet. McDonalds has been trying for 80 years and has about 38,000 restaurants, but still hasn’t succeeded… yet. And what’s the actual point of Nova (beyond being eye candy)? She does nothing… at all... ever. She's as meaningless as a pet rock. No cats, chainsaws or decapitations.
Rated 25 Aug 2019
80
64th
Yes, it's basically a retread until the last 30 minutes, but those last 30 minutes make up for it. I have yet to see another movie with an ending as over the top and bleak. Go big or go home, I guess.
Rated 08 Feb 2019
85
58th
B+
Rated 15 Jan 2019
68
35th
The second Planet of the Apes movies starts off as a very mediocre copy of the first, down to Charlton Heston look-a-like in the lead . The movie does gets more interesting when the Heston-copy discovers a lost human underground society that worships an atomic bomb. But it's the bleak and very surprising end that lifts the movie up mostly.
Rated 10 Dec 2018
50
14th
This film has mammoth logic problems as Taylor was exploring space and so a rescue mission makes no sense. Also it was November 25, 3978 in the first film and yet here it is suddenly 3955.
Rated 16 Nov 2018
46
16th
Beneath begins as a smaller scale remake of the original in many respects. Which would normally be a huge problem, however, in this case the film dives into far worse territory for its second half. Even to longstanding fans of the franchise this sequel will prove boring and unnecessary. The visuals still work fine enough, but without the timeless themes and stellar writing, Beneath feels like nothing more than an artsy B-Movie with very little to say.
Rated 18 Jun 2018
72
49th
Get through that first hour and you'll be reworded tenfold
Rated 18 Jun 2018
2
30th
Ballsy and batshit enough ending to make it a good watch, but a little stumblingly slow in the beginning/middle area
Rated 02 Jan 2015
85
71st
Monkeys, mutants and the bomb? Pretty much a recipe for success.
Rated 08 Dec 2014
62
61st
You maniacs you blew it up. Damn you. Damn you all to hell
Rated 23 Aug 2014
71
30th
It's alright, but nothing wondrously good, just an ok sequel.
Rated 06 Aug 2014
40
28th
Poor Nova.
Rated 15 Jul 2014
40
12th
With the first half more or less a copy of the first film, and the second half pretty much ruining one of the best premises in movie history, this is easy to dislike. Even the make-up is worse this time around.
Rated 14 Jul 2014
65
45th
It's no where near the level of the original but it's still watchable. It does become a bit crazy towards the end. I would have rather they focused on the ape politics then where it ended up going.
Rated 30 Mar 2014
20
17th
To play it safe, instead of refining the original, Beneath simplifies it to a stupefying degree. The monkey society won't get fleshed out, only reduced to an absurd caricature of a caste system. To top it off, the movie nullifies the message of the original with the usual Cold War fearmongering, and by having the brave hero invoke the Samson Option and retaliate the death of the free world by wiping out those aggressive, illogical apes.
Rated 03 Sep 2013
69
53rd
* Casting, Acting : 6.5 * Script : 7.5 * Directing, Aura : 6.5 * Ease of Viewing : 7.5 * Naked Eye : 6.5
Rated 16 Jun 2012
82
51st
Decent but ultimately pointless
Rated 04 Feb 2012
59
37th
Starts off good, but it seems the budget was low on this one, some of the special effects are horrible, and some of the events are rather absurb, and higly unbeliveable. But still it has it moments.
Rated 30 Dec 2011
84
68th
This is the best Apes sequel. I loved it. Hammy as all hell but with some great set-pieces and ridiculous characters. Shame about that ending.
Rated 20 Nov 2011
40
8th
Gets plus points for the bleakness and the ending. Otherwise pretty crap. And why the hell would there be a rescue expedition sent out in the first place, especially so soon after the original ship?
Rated 27 Sep 2011
40
8th
Dated, preachy and ridiculous. (Watching this filled me in on some jokes I didn't get in Futurama.)
Rated 19 Aug 2011
55
30th
I suppose if you haven't recently rewatched the first one, this can hit the spot as a silly post-apocalyptic 70s flick. It certainly satisfies on that front, and if that was all I presumed of it, I could have even rated it higher. But knowing it's unsuccessfully trying to mine the same gems as it's predecessor leaves me grumpy and dissatisfied
Rated 10 Aug 2011
50
28th
The first movie is great, and the rest in the saga all have some nice part and then the most of them are from bad to decent. The 'best' part on this one is the final one, related to the Forbidden Zone (it's something absolutely unbelievable and absurd if you think of it, but interesting and quite hilarious too). The rest in this case it's mostly decent, but just a rip-off of the first one really.
Rated 22 Jun 2010
55
6th
Really? Why?? Part 1 was soooo good. I downloaded all the parts after seeing the first one. But watching this one and skipping through the other sequals it landed in my bin FAST.
Rated 18 Dec 2009
58
24th
Fails to capture a lot of what made the first film so good. They rehashed a lot of the plot, and the last act is just a sickening spiral into inevitability, which ruins the resolution of the first film. A Hollywood money grab which proves that chasing franchises has always been a thing, and Hollywood has never been particularly good at it.
Rated 09 Dec 2009
30
8th
Campy as hell, and so blatant that it makes the original's symbolism seem subtle. Best bit: Golden Nuke being worshipped.
Rated 08 Dec 2009
80
66th
Does a good job pulling you in to a mystery. Then it's a bit more of a rehash, but gets back into the groove with a grand finale. Edgier and slightly more enjoyable than its predecessor.
Rated 08 Sep 2009
71
73rd
Economically reusing some standing sets on the Fox lot -- some of them built for _Hello Dolly_(!) -- this violent, fast-paced sequel was almost as popular as the first _Planet of the Apes_, making the all-out climax look like something of a misstep, but not one impossible to get around since they managed to come up with three more sequels after this. Incidentally, this is the one and only Apes flick without Roddy McDowall in the cast (barring flashback footage)
Rated 12 Aug 2009
56
29th
OK overall film, good idea (in that good ole' sci-fi kind of way), but the ending pisses me off something ridiculous.
Rated 01 May 2009
45
30th
the bomb! the bomb! the bomb!
Rated 26 Dec 2008
41
38th
I didn't like the first and this one, wasn't any better.
Rated 17 Nov 2008
25
17th
Bad. Suffers from not having much of Heston and having an even more ridiculous plot that is, as it turns out, pretty unrelated to the first film even though it pretends it's not. The new lead character is incredibly bland, and everything has become much more predictable, annoying and ridiculous. A few good scenes won't save this from it's own incompetence. Nuclear weapons? Psychic powers? And the end twist! As if the premise of the first film wasn't bad enough.. The very end is actually decent.
Rated 18 Oct 2008
20
15th
Musikken irriterer mig i den grad - hele tiden åndssvage "tv-serie" musik for at dramatisere en kedelig film
Rated 28 Sep 2008
72
29th
Even if it wasn't Planet of the Apes, it's premise would still work!
Rated 06 May 2008
3
32nd
I love me some mutants.
Rated 20 Oct 2007
40
15th
All the PotA sequels are pale shadows of the first movie.
Rated 23 Sep 2007
2
33rd
I want more Heston.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
50
17th
Unnecessary.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
75
72nd
fascinating sequel, with the ruins of New York bought from the film Hello Dolly. An acquaintace has the soundtrack which is better than the film itself. You gotta love the mutants who sing hymns to an atomic bomb (as you do). Co written by Pierre Boulle, who wrote monkey planet, the story that Planet of the Apes is based on
Rated 30 May 2007
52
38th
The 1st half feels like a rehash of the original film with diminishing returns. 2nd half shifts to underground setting where psychic mutants worship an atom bomb. The apes are largely absent during this part. Heston returns in a small role. I appreciated the sets and the increased scope of the apes, but the film's pacing is quite slow, and director Ted Post is no match to Schaeffer. However, the ending deserves praise and it's hard to imagine a modern blockbuster ending in such a bleak manner.
Rated 22 Mar 2007
73
20th
Rushed to capitalize on the success of POTA this was a misfire and it is rather awkard if compared to that master piece. On it's own it stands well as a 70's exploitative sci-fi flick.
Rated 01 Mar 2007
40
19th
Poor sequel.

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