We made you a new body. A synthetic shell. But your mind, your soul, your “ghost,” it’s still in there.
So I had never seen this film before but my sister wanted to watch it during our Dystopian Future film fest during the beginning of shelter in place. I did remember the film as the controversy was huge. People were extremely upset over them casting Scarlet Johansson instead of an Asian actress, then getting mad when they tried to CGI a more Asian face, and so on.
Grab your torches and sharpen your pitchforks!
So I watched this and…I hated this.
I was so bored fell asleep halfway through and then tried to watch it again, but just couldn’t connect to it. I couldn’t even tell what was going on.
I watched the anime film and that was much, much better. It is a high concept but it was understandable and much easier to follow. I was riveted to that story.
The biggest problem with this film was Scarlet Johansson. She was horrible.
She was so wooden and acted robotic. I don’t know if the director was overcompensating for making her not Asian and trying to say it wasn’t about race, if it was because of the CGI they planned to add and removed, if she just struggled with being robotic in her body and voice instead of just focusing on the voice like in Her. I mean there is a way to have a person be a robot/cyborg and still be able to connect to them and understand what they are experiencing and going through. Look at Robocop, look at the Terminator, etc. All those were much better depictions. I don’t know where the blame truly lies-director or actress, all I know it was awful…just a mess.
I don’t know…
I also felt the story really strayed from the original concept and became like a ripoff of Robocop meets Blade Runner.
I’m scared, Fif. You know why? It’s that rat circus out there. I’m beginning to enjoy it.
What is this, funny week?
Look. Any longer out on that road and I’m one of them, you know? A terminal crazy… only I got a bronze badge to say I’m one of the good guys.
So during the #shelterinplace in the COVID-19 crisis, my sister and I watched a lot of End of the World/Dystopian Future films.
One we both had wanted to watch as people have gone on and on about it, is Mad Max (1979), the original film-yes the one that launched Mel Gibson to action star fame.
So I didn’t like the film. It reminded me of a lot of other films and moved really slow.
The story is that post-apocalyptic Australia is overrun with nomadic motorcycle gangs who pillage, rape, and cause havoc.
from Terminator 2: Judgement Day
This actually wasn’t supposed to be post-apocalyptic but they had a small budget and could only afford rundown buildings.
The only one who stands against the gangs are the police who roam the land and take these guys down. There are only four police.
That’s not good.
Mel Gibson is Max and he takes out one bad rider, arresting gang member Johnny Boy. However, Johnny Boy is acquitted when no one shows up at the trial (he raped someone-they have a hard time facing their abusers, even more so in this world). This makes police officer Goose angry ad he shouts at the gang telling them he will get them.
You should never get the nickname Goose, Gooses tend to die…So you know where this is going. Goose made the gang angry and they sabotage his motorcycle. After Goose dies, Max becomes disheartened at being a police officer and wants to quit (he had before but they convinced him to stay on) and takes a leave of absence. He, his wife, and son are traveling when they run into the gang and his son ends up killed, his wife in a coma.
This makes Max angry, furious, and crazy-thus Mad Max is born. (I really like the play on the word “mad” as it means furious and insane-which he becomes both of). He suits up, steals the souped up police car, and chases down the gang taking them out.
So the most of the movie as I said is slow-the gang is insane, strange, weird, and hard to watch. They are very chaotic-raping, blowing things up, running things over, etc. The movie doesn’t show everything, only some, but alludes to enough, too much-I didn’t like it.
Not for me.
Really the only part I love is when Max suits up to take the guys down. The imagery is great-pulling the covering of his police uniform that was put away in a trunk, the next scene he’s shown in the garage by the car, then him driving down the motorcycle gang.
Wow!
The last 15 minutes was the only part I loved. I think they should have cut some of the earlier scenes and went into him taking the gang out-like in Tombstone or The Punisher.
So today ends Banned Book Week. As this is the first time in forever that it runs into October, I thought what better time than now to review this movie.
Guy Montag: Do you remember what you asked me the other day: if I ever read the books I burn? Remember?
Clarisse: Uh-huh.
Guy Montag: Last night I read one.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is one of my absolute favorite books. I was first was introduced to it at the age of 10, when I came across my parents watching the film, this movie. I didn’t quite understand it, so my mom gave me the book to read. Since then I read it at least once a year.
Or 10th, 50th, 100th…
So I don’t always love when they turn a book into a film as usually the film greatly disappoints, but in this case I love this film. Although I do dislike one thing. I can’t stand Julie Christie in the dual roles of Montag’s wife Linda and Clarisse, the woman who makes him start questioning what he believes. I know why the director chose it-to highlight the differences, contrast the personalities, etc.-but I think it makes it seem like he falls for her because she looks like his wife instead of who she is. It turned out to be a last minute decision as they couldn’t get who they wanted (Alfred Hitchcock wouldn’t let Tippi Hedrun go as he was obsessed and controlling her). The studio wanted Julie Christie and François Truffaut decided to have her as both characters.
François Truffaut was known to say he disliked SciFi films, and a friend suggested that he try Fahrenheit 451. He did and was hooked, feeling he needed to make a film of it.
But all was not happy on the set. Terrence Stamp was supposed to be Montag, but dropped out and was recast with Oskar Werner. Werner is the only one in the whole production to have a different accent, German to everyone’s English. I don’t mind as it is another thing that sets him apart from the others. He and Truffaut did not get along, and Truffaut said that if he hadn’t wanted to make film so bad and spent so much time raising money for it, he would have walked. Even though the two had their differences and fights, the end result of the film looked good to me and remains a favorite dystopian future film.
So we start the film off with seeing how every house has antennae. Everyone watches TV, are they also being watched?
Hmm…
The credits are read out to you instead of you reading-to go with the no reading anything in the future. This adds to the creepiness. of the film.
Creepy…
They start the film off immediately with them going in the firetruck all dressed in black suits similar to Nazi uniforms. The firetruck is an old fashioned one that just holds the men-there is no fire hose.
The music playing makes me think of Psycho-the way the music lifts and falls increasing your anxiety. I looked it up and it is by the same composer, Bernard Herrmann.
I can’t believe I got that right!
So back to the film-a man is calmly eating an apple in his home receives a phone call-warning him to get out. He leaves with nothing, running. The fireman come in and start searching for books, finding Don Quixote in the light-I read somewhere that a lot of the books used are the directors favorites.
They have nasty looking tools they use to search everywhere-the TV is full of books, it being completely fake. You couldn’t do that today with these skinny ones. After they collect all the items they take them outside and burn them all.
I’d be freaking out if those were my books.
A little boy picks up a book off the ground and looks at it, curious. A fireman looks at him-and dad, scared, throws it on the fire.
So in the book all the firemen look alike, one of the reasons why you are given that vocation. They are all dark haired and tall, same build. In here, most of them are all a shade of blonde, ah Nazi ambience again. It makes sense as Truffaut was a preteen during WWII, I’m sure the experiences really affected him, espechially seeing the Nazis taking over French cities. He probably used some of those experiences when directing this.
It is really unsettling to see these men in black and they all look so much alike-a faceless horde in a way.
SUPER creeped
Captain Beatty, Montag’s boss refers to Montag in a kind of the third person-just by his last name. No I You, etc. No individuality at all.
Montag rides the train home, and runs into Clarisse. In the book she was a teen and a representation of innocence. In here she is a woman, which is not a bad change as they decided to go the route of a romantic relationship.
Clarisse talks to him, and she loves to talk. It seems a bit odd has she comes up and talks to him, I feel it made more sense as a teenager, as being young you wouldn’t always know or recognize social cues like an adult would.
Hmm…
They get off at the same stop because they are neighbors and Clarisse talks to him and asks him if it was true that firemen used to put out fires instead of starting them. Montag laughs at her, and says houses have always been fireproof-firemen have always destroyed books.
Clarisse asks about why Montag does it, and Montag gives the spiel of what they told him, books are rubbish. Clarisse continues to press him on it and Montag continues giving the spiel. I like this because it shows that Montag isn’t thinking about it or believes in the books being an evil to society, but that he has been taught that and never gave it another though-but now, those questions have started a seed in his head.
Clarisse asks him, “Do you ever read the books you burn?” and he repeats the spiel again…but something has him thinking….
Hmmm…
Montag gets home and the TV is on, the TV is always on. His wife is obsessed with the TV calling them “her family”, the announcers being referred to as “cousins”. he TV tlks to people nd calls them cousins, evryone is one hapy family. His wife, Linda, is so checked out, she only cares about watching TV.
That night she has a special part in the episode. At times the show will pause as they will ask a question and wait for Linda to reply. Montag is checked out of this as he is bored-his upcoming promotion is blah, life is blah, wife is blah. This makes me think of The Truman Show when Truman starts thinking, why did I choose this life and then realizing he didn’t really choose it.
I love all the little touches Truffaut has with the newspaper being just has pictures. I never noticed it before but it looks like the Ku Klux Klan on the back.
While Montag “reads” the paper, Linda watches a mini TV by her bed, I told you that’s her life. She has to watch 24/7.
Next day at work everyone congratulates him on the promotion, but he’s not as thrilled as he should be. One thing I really like about this is seeing the Montag teach the new recruits. I think it adds to the film. Montag is currently teaching them about concealment-must learn to where you would hide them. Hide in every day objects like toasters, use cylindrical objects like thermos to trick the firemen, using empty TVs, even hiding them in the house construction, etc. All the things he talks about will be shown again in the film as hiding places.
Montag gets called to come see the Captain. When they greet their higher ups they do a saute across the body, again reminiscent of Hitler and the Nazis. I definitely think some aspects of this were influenced by the Occupation of France and WWII
The boss looks though the file, as he wants to talk to him about the promotion. In his file are only pictures-ones from every angle, in fact they look like prison photos. Their whole interaction is strange but we learn a lot about the world they live in. You see Montag is married, childless, says little, and agrees with everything that his boss says. The perfect man to be risen up in power. That’s their ideal person.
That night, Montag gets home and finds the TV off-strange. Something is wrong as Linda always has the TV on.
Something isn’t right…
Linda has overdosed on drugs. Earlier Montag asked her about how many pills she took and she laughed shrugged it off. He calls 911 and no doctor or nurse come. Instead two guys come to pump her stomach and give her a transfusion. I liked in the book how Bradbury described it as a snake going into her, in my mind I aways saw them as like plumbers snaking a drain. The guys are jolly and joking, just another day this happens all the time. The guys joke and laugh as they go out that “tomorrow she’ll be hungry for all types of things”.
The next day Linda is normal, nothing is remembered. Montag is upset and tries to talk to her but she doesn’t care she just has an appetite for everything and all is forgotten as all seems fine, in fact more than fine.
That’s just how I am.
The next day Montag takes the train home and sees Clarisse, thinking about what she said.
One thing that is interesting seeing people on the train, people are all in love with themselves. When he’s on the train he sees the girls looking at themselves and admiring their beauty and the boys doing the same. No one interacts with each other, or talks to each other, etc. They are too busy focused on themselves. It’s like that Billy Idol song, Dancing With Myself. All they care about id their reflection.
The next day Montag comes home with something in his pack. He stuffs it in the bathroom. What is it?
Hmm…
A book?
It is a book!
He’s reading David Copperfield! I really like how they show him reading with his finger under each word. I know they probably did for the camera-but it is how a lot of people read when they first learn.
The next day Clarisse is walking with an older lady and they see Montag, watching him on the train as well. Clarisse goes alone and plans running into him. I don’t like that as much as in the book Clarisse, looked for him at first but then they continued to run into each other organically as Clarisse’s innocence and her total opposite of what was normal to him-intrigued him.
So Clarisse is upset and runs into Montag, the two go into a coffee shop and shares what is going on. She’s upset as she was dismissed from work (she was on probation as a teacher). Montag tells her to go and talk to them, but she doesn’t want to go lone. Clarisse calls Montag’s boss as Linda and says he is sick. I can’t believe Montag would go along with that as he is such a yes man, but I guess that is why he agrees with Clarisse.
So watching this film, I don’t really like Julie Christie in the dual role. I know money was tight and that’s why they ended up doing it that way but I really wish they had another actress in this. Julie Christie as Linda is perfect-she’s froth, light, no substance-only focused on the shallow things in life and checked out-but Christie as Clarisse is where I feel she struggles. It’s not wholly her fault, she trying to be do completely different people, which is extremely tough. Clarisse is light, carefree, innocent, naive, and endearing-Christie tries to do it but instead of being young she comes off as if she is trying too hard to be carefree. It doesn’t work for me.
When they get inside the school the kids all dress the same and are doing their multiplication in perfect unison. It’s really creepy and reminds me of the scene in A Wrinkle in Time when all the kids on the planet do everything in perfect unison.
SUPER creeped
At the school the children all run from Clarisse in fear. They loved her a few days ago, and now they hate her. Someone tosses her belongings tied up in a scarf and slide them down the hall-very clear their message: get out and stay out.
I really like the set of this film-the hallway is long and foreboding. The predominant clothes are red, orange, black, and gray-like fire and firefighters.
Montag admits to Clarisse that he read a book-wow the whole David Copperfield in one night?
Now that he started, he can’t stop. He has more and more book every night, he’s reading and thinking, even reading the dictionary.
Mildred wakes up one evening and starts investigating finding a ton of them. She’s upset and wants them gone, but Montag is too protective.
Guy Montag: [to Linda] You’ve spent your whole life in front of that family wall. These books are my family.
Montag starts asking Linda questions about their relationship. When did they meet? Why did we get married? How did we fall in love? Linda cannot remember, neither can Montag. It makes me think of The Truman Show, when he starts thinking about his life and how it all happened.
How did this all happen!
The next day Montag tries to use the fireman pole but it’s not working. He has to take the gorgeous spiral staircase. If I ever built a house I would want a spiral staircase as it is just lovely. Anyways, the bell rings, and the men get dressed and go out, instead of the pole, Montag has to take the stairs.
They go to the house and find it unlocked, strange. It’s a beautiful Victorian and the lady comes out-it was the one that Clarisse had been talking to, the teacher who was fired and she took their place. She laughs at the men when she sees them and quotes:
Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.
This lady is awesome-the way she stands up to them. They try to push her around and she laughs in their faces. I hope that if I ever stand up for my beliefs I’m as cool as she is.
Her house is full of books.
There are books everywhere and in everything-every place they could be hidden. They toss them downstairs to burn them.
The hous has a secret room-a secret library.
That’s soooooo cool!!!!!!!!!
Captain Beatty takes Montag upstairs and tells him that every fireman once in their career wants to read one, a book-but he cautions Montag that there is noting.
The Captain: Listen to me, Montag. Once to each fireman, at least once in his career, he just itches to know what these books are all about. He just aches to know. Isn’t that so?…These are all novels, all about people that never existed, the people that read them it makes them unhappy with their own lives. Makes them want to live in other ways they can never really be…Look, all stories of the dead, biography that’s called, and autobiography. My life, my diary, my memoirs, my – intimate memoirs…Robinson Crusoe, the Negroes didn’t like that because of his man, Friday. And Nietzsche, Nietzsche, the Jews didn’t like Nietzsche. Here’s a book about lung cancer. You see, all the cigarette smokers got into a panic, so for everybody’s peace of mind, we burn it….You see, it’s… it’s no good, Montag. We’ve all got to be alike. The only way to be happy is for everyone to be made equal.
As Captain Beatty rants, he goes through the different books in the library. Here are a few I caught the names of: Othello, Vanity Fair, Alice in Wonderland, Edicts of Aristotle, Robinson Crusoe, Madame Bovary, The World of Salvador Dali, Holy Deadlock, Confessions of an Irish Rebel-etc.
Montag steals a book, but another fireman spots him.
Beatty’s philosophizing is interrupted when they find out the lady won’t leave the house. Montag wants her to be forced to leave, but Beatty doesn’t care and says if she wants to die she can die.
They spray the house with kerosine, but instead of them lighting it up, she has matches in her pocket.
Yep, she’s going to decide when the fire will come. The men run while she burns with her “family”. Montag is the last one out, shaken by the scene. Uncertain of how to feel, what this means, what is right, what is wrong, etc.
Linda and her friends are all gathered watching TV, their talk is meaningless and shallow. Montag is mad and and upset about what happened and shares about how he saw the lady being burned. He’s angry and lashing out at these empty husks-not living but just killing time. Mntag brings out a book and reads it to them, a passage from David Copperfield. One lady, Doris, starts crying as the words evoke emotion in her.
“There can be no disparity in marriage like unsuitability of mind and purpose.”
All the ladies leave. Montag is like an addict, a book addict.
He is compelled to read, he wants to read everything-he feels the need to catch up-as there is just so much and so little time.
That night Montag has a nightmare. He’s i the schoolhouse, on the train, at the lady’s house who burned up, instead of the lady it is Clarisse and he sees her burning.
You know I realized watching the film this time that Clarisse and Montag actually haven’t spent a lot of time together in the film. I feel like they had more meaningful conversations in the book.
Hmm…
That night Clariss hears the siren and sees the firemen coming to her house. She grabs her go bag and escapes through the roof. The next day Montag goes to work but feels sick. Linda can’t stand the books and begs him to get rd of them threatening to leave him as she can’t live with the fear and anxiety, but Montag ignores her
Montag goes to talk toClarisse and finds the house boarded up and that they were arrested last night. Montag has to know if they are alright and hurries to work. Outside, Montag spots Captain Beatty yelling at a recruit. Montag uses that time to sneak into the captain’s office to find out what happened to Clarisse. He uses a stud in his glove to unscrew the window in the door and reach in and unlock it. Very Macgyver. But unbknowst to him, downstaies the captain has just been given the file.
Will Montag get out in time!!?
Oh no! The music emphasizing every step of the Captain.
Montag gets caught, and the Captain shows him the pictures of those that were imprisoned and those that escaped. The captain thinks he wants he house, but questions how he got into his locked office. Before Montag can reply he faints from relief and is sent home.
Mildred decides she can’t do this anymore and reports Montag.
Meanwhile, Montag searches for Clarisse and finds her getting off the train. Clarisse stayed away all night but needs to sneak into her house to get something. She is searching for a list of names and addresses of people hiding, Montag offers to help as it is something he knows how to do and is really good at. Remember he taught all the recruits.
He discovers it in a vase-cylindrical objects, and burns it for Clarisse.
Clarisse admits that she picked hjm out-she thought he would help them. Montag tells her he knows as he realized it when the woman burned herself. Clarisse shares she did it as she was afraid that when they tortured her she would spill everything.
Clarisse shares with him that there is a place where the book people live. People who have escaped from society-they live far away in the hills and country-all have a book committed to memory. No longer themselves, they are a book.
Or years.
Clarisse asks him to come with him, but Montag has unfinished business. Things he wants to do here, to try and destroy the power of the fireman. They part ways both believing they will never see each other again.
Linda packs up at the house, taking her clothes and a picture of herself (wow, that’s telling), while Montag goes to the station to try to give his resignation-but Beatty refuses it and convinces him to take a final call. When they stop at the house, Montag realizes it is his house!
Montag helps pull all the books out, although he does stuff one in his uniform. They give Montag the flame thrower to destroy it and he burns his bed-the betrayal of his wife.
Then the tv he always hated, the family. He then burns the books-Moby Dick, Don Juan, The Mystery of Jack the Ripper, Plexus, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, MAD, Lolita, The Brothers Karamoz, etc.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Not the books.
Everytime I watch the books burn my heart breaks a little and it makes me want to cry. This would be me:
Montag won’t let them burn his special book, and when Captain Beatty tries to pull it from him and threatens to arrest him-he turns the flame thrower on Captain Beatty, and the house.
Montag runs away and the authorities call out to all citizens to look out their doors for Montag, a man running and report if they find him. They use all those pictures in his file to splatter across TV.
So in the film, Clarisse told him where to go to find the book people, while in the book he just runs to the country. In both, all people live in the city and no one ever goes out to the country which makes it the perfect place to hide out.
Montag is hidog as they search for him. In the book they sent a mechanical hound that searches for him by his DNA with a needle full of toxic substance that will find him and prick him, killing him. I don’t think they had the technology a the time to make a creepy and realistic looking one. I don’t really want to watch the remake with Michael B. Jordan as you know how I feel about remakes:
I espechially do not like HBO ruining books I like (I did not like The Big Little Lies adaption)-but I would be interested to see how they have they do the hound.
As Montag walks he comes upon a group of people. One man greets him and shows him to a TV where they watch Montag’s capture.
What??
In the future, people have short attention spans and cannot keep the viewers waiting. They must have a climax and they find a guy just walking down the street and shoot him down.
We see different people walking around-hey there is the guy from the very beginning! So remember how the film didn’t have a lot of money? The Book People at the end were mostly played by members of the film crew.
Some of the book people are Plato’s Republic, Wuthering Heights, Alice in Wonderland, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Pilgrim’s Progress, Waiting for Godot, The Jewish Question, The Martian Chronicles, The Pickwick Papers, David Copperfield, The Prince, Pride and Prejudice (spilt between two people as it was originally two volumes), etc.
One day society will want them again and books will be printed again.
Montag’s “special book” is Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe. He will be memorizing it and runs into Clarisse,
I love at the end how everyone is walking and reciting their books, Montag reading and trying to memorize his. The lovely words from all different books running over each other as the snow falls.
Everytime I watch this I always winder, which book would I want to memorize? Which would be the one I think is the important enough to carry on to the next generation? I feel like it would be too hard to pick one.
Here we go, last film! I haven’t accomplished a series since I did Screamtastic Saturdays back in 2014 (I did try with TMNT but I ended up falling behind in my reviews and had to reverse them.)
After that film there was a great war and the cities were destroyed. But Caesar led a group of apes out to lead them. We travel back to after the dust settled, the nuclear bombs, and ape city has been established. (I guess year 1995? Maybe?)
We see a primitive society that has apes and people.
Although the apes are not treated as they were in Planet of the Apes, they are servants and lower than the apes. They can teach and hold jobs-but the apes are on the top of the food chain and control them.
This film has a really long intro, much longer than the others. Two humans are trying to fix a wheel on a cart when a gorilla knocks them to the side and does it himself, he’s really strong. Its General Aldo.
Aldo as in ALDO the ape who lead the people in Cornelius’ history lesson? The movie doesn’t say, but it seems to me Caesar stole his destiny.
Anyways General Aldo comes late to school, and makes a scene as he doesn’t know how to read and doesn’t care to. But under Caesar, every ape must go to school.
There is some unrest as Aldo does not like humans and does not care to be taught by a human. Caesar’s son Cornelius is in school and gets high marks.
Aldo does poor work and gets told to do it again. The General is very angry at a human commanding him and rips up Cornelius’ paper. The teacher shouts no to him.
Yes, all gasp. Humans can never say no to apes again! The teacher is told by Virgil, an orangoutang to go home-the teacher apologizes bit it isn’t good enough.
This is all Aldo has been waiting for and he and his gorilla gang destroy the schoolhouse and chase after the teacher to hurt him
But he gets to Caesar in time to save him. MacDonald (from the last film) aides Caesar and grows fearful of Aldo? And he should be. That gorilla is prime to start an uprising, destroy something or people, etc.
MacDonald is mad that the humans and apes are not equal. He’s like me and my family lived through the sixties and have to go through this again.
Caesar tells him one day they may grow to trust people again. maybe.
Meanwhile Caesar has been thinking of his parents and what they would think of or say about his leadership. MacDonald mentions that in the destroyed city are pictures and videos of his parents-things that probably survived the bomb. Unfortunately, the city is radioactive. So how to get through?
Hmmm…
Lisa, Caeser’s wife is afraid he might not come back. Leaving Aldo there without Caesar? I would be afraid there would be nothing to come back to.
Caesar goes to the armory which is held by a certain orangutang that seriously questions people before any guns can be given out. He has been appointed not only the holder of the armory but Caesar’s conscious. Interesting, and a good idea-someone who can be objective.
Caesar, Virgil, and MacDonald head out to the destroyed city. There they find the city and it is in a wasteland-it looks like when the cities were burned in WWII. But in the one movie, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, the city was supposed to be below-Did it sink over time?
Hmm…
They go through the city, meanwhile men are scrounging underneath. They speak of radiation and we see a woman trying to put makeup over the scar, a callback to the second film.
The three set off a motion detector and the new governor recognizes Caesar. He thinks he has come to battle. He recognizes MacDonald too.
That’s not good.
The guys search through the video for the right tape and Virgil finds it, they watch it-really.
These guys don’t think there will be an issue? You should have taken it back with you. but oh yeah there is no electronics where they leave. They mention it has been 12 years since the last film so that makes this 2003.
Virgil tells us that time is fluid, and that a number of factors could change what is to come. He thinks that the future the apes mention is only one possibility, which is true. The timeline was disrupted by Taylor, then Brent, then when Zira and Cornelius came into the past-anything could happen.
Who knows?!
Virgil notices a camera over head and they destroy it. They hurry to escape as they can only be underground for 2 hours or else they will go crazy.
The mutants shoot at them and try to capture them, but our gang make it out the tunnels (so I guess some is underground) to freedom but just barely.
The men follow but have a hard time in the sun, they are like mole people.
It burns
Our three flee to their home.
One officer wants the governor to just leave well enough alone. But the governor won’t have it. It makes me think of Ratcliffe in Pocahontas.
He wants them to follow and destroy them all!
The scouts follow and spy on our gang. Like seriously guys, you are the worst ever, You didn’t even check to see if they were following you?!
So Caesar begins a war council, but includes humans-which makes Aldo mad. He and the gorillas begin their own uprising.
Now I know you don’t want to be a dictator and squash people, but if someone is anti-the leader-why promote them? Aren’t you basically calling yourself king or emperor? It’s not like you are a president and doing an election. I don’t know.
Cornelius overhears him and is wounded by Aldo. Then the mutants attack the gorillas. Cesar is grieving and in shock over his son-and while he’s distracted Aldo rounds up and corrals the humans-making a play for the throne.
Geez-its the ape version of Game of Thrones. This title-not kidding. A serious battle indeed.
There is no middle ground.
The battle against the mutants begin!
The mutants get closer and discover that the apes are all dead and defeated. But it turns out they are only pretending and launch another attack.
After that the battle ends-but Caesar still has to contend with Aldo and the realization that the apes are not too much different from humans after all.
They battle it out and Aldo dies.
GOOD!
Caesar agrees to MacDonald’s request for humans to be treated as equals, this scene I remember the most out of the entire movie.
Afterwards, they lock up the guns and wait for a peaceful day when no weapons will ever be needed.
We end on a scene of humans and apes living together, for the moment-at peace.
I don’t like this movie as much as some of the others, but I did like it as a conclusion to the story. I thought it had the heart of the original with some serious subject matter (current times) infused with the action.
I love this original series and am glad I finally had a chance to watch and review them all in order.
NO! Don’t go in there! You don’t have to die! No one has to die at 30! You could live! LIVE! Live, and grow old! I’ve seen it! She’s seen it!
The first time I heard of this film was when I was watching The Island with my mom, she kept saying that the film reminded her of Logan’s Run. While I think The Island is more like The 6th Day, it does take quite a bit from this film. So does that Justin Timberlake, Olivia Wilde, and Amanda Seyfried film and that one Matt Damon time movie.
Yes, none of those could be made if it wasn’t for this film.
This is based off a book and had high class special effects for the time, my mom was telling me how watching it for that first time on the big screen, it just blew everyone away.
Wow!
The film is set in 2274 and people live in this doomed domed city, all their life revolves around is pleasure, like the city in Metropolis.
Pleasure Garden
No sickness, diseases, pain, suffering, etc-just sex, play, and everyone dies at 30, unless they can be lucky enough to get to carousal and renew.
To make sure people accept their fate at 30, they have a police force-called Sandmen. They hunt the “runners”, those that try to escape.
When everyone is born they have a jewel on their palm. They start out white, then become yellow, from there they turn green, then red, then black and flash when their time is up.
Logan (Michael York) is a sandman and in his red period, 26 years old. We first see him when he is looking at his son Logan in the nursery. In this time men donate their seed, women give birth, and children are raised separately from their parents-the only thing they have from them is their name-boys take their father’s name and girls their mother’s name. Now this is an interesting scene, because even though Logan acts like a Sandman we see there is a part of him that doesn’t quite match up with how this world works. He goes to see his child-something his friend finds odd as no one ever does that.
Logan: [tapping on a glass window of maternity room] Wake up.
Francis: Logan, you are here. I couldn’t believe it when they told me. What are you doing?
Logan: [indicates baby] Logan 6. Well it’s not everyday that they authorize a new sandman. I tell you Francis…[indicating baby] that’s him.
Francis: Well maybe, maybe not. What does it matter? Anyway, he isn’t yours anymore.
[Logan continues to tap lightly on the glass]
It reminds me of Fahrenheit 451, how Montag was a fireman and did what they were supposed to do-but there was something different about him, something in his foundation that opened himself to Clarisse’s wondering and changed.
Soanyways, Logan goes about his day as normal, watch people try to renew and fail, kill those running, then go home and drink, get high, and swipe left or right for sex.
That last part though, it actually sounds quite a bit like today…
Spooky…
Seriously, you call people up on the circuit, they materialize, and you guys decide if you are going to be together or not. This night Logan meets Jessica, a green-wearing girl (younger than him) wearing an ankh necklace.
Stop, that is important to the plot. Remember it.
Jessica (Jenny Agutter) is sad, as a close friend of hers tried to reach “renewal” but didn’t, he died. She went on the circuit to distract herself, but has changed her mind. She isn’t interested.
Logan: Killed? Why do you use that word?
Jessica: Isn’t that what you do? Kill?
Logan: I’ve never killed anyone in my life. Sandman terminate runners. What’s your name?
Jessica: Jessica.
Logan: You’re sad enough. You’re beautiful. Let’s have sex.
Jessica: No.
Logan: Then why are you wasting my time, hmmm? Why did you put yourself on the circuit?
Jessica: I thought I had to do something. I told you it was a mistake. And I’ve changed my mind.
Logan: Because I’m a Sandman? Am I your first?
Jessica: Yes. And I’m curious.
But she’s got into him. The way she talked about his job, and sandmen has got him thinking…
Hmm…
Like I said before, this film really reminds me of Fahrenheit 451. As Jessica challenges the way Logan looks at things, just like Clarisse did for Montag. From that first meeting-their whole life changes. The book Fahrenheit 451 was published in 1953 and the film came out in 1966, so it is easy to see how it influenced this film.
But-back to the story. So Jessica leaves, and Logan and his best pal and coworker, Francis, have fun with some other ladies and drugs.
Forget that girl…or can he?
Another day, Logan and Francis take down a runner and Logan recovers an ankh symbol. When he and Francis turn over the evidence and items they find off the runners, EVERYTHING CHANGES!
This is going to get good…
When he drops the ankh down, the computer freaks out and creepily calls him over to sit.
I wouldn’t!!
He has started Procedure 033-03. The computer tells him over 1600 people have run and found sanctuary. They don’t know where they go but that the ankh is what they use to find/get to sanctuary,
Logan questions the computer and discovers that there is no “renewal” and “carousal”. They all die.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LOGAN, STOP! YOU KNOW TOO MUCH!! THEY ARE GOING TO KILL YOU!!!! RUN NOW!!!!
But of course he doesn’t. The computer gives him his mission to find sanctuary, changes his light so that his time is now up and he has to “run.”
OF COURSE it has to be a secret and he CAN’T TELL ANYONE, really?
This is like Departed-level bad idea. Jeez, no pne knows about you except two of us-one who does, and the other who gets fired so no one is going to help you!
So Logan calls up Jessica again to try and get her to help him, as he remembers she has the ankh symbol too. Jessica, however, is much smarter than Logan thought. She doesn’t really believe him as “sandmen never run”. He does all he can, but her group plots to murder him as he knows too much. Before they accomplish it, Logan gets a call to get a runner thats going through the chapel, the place they keep the wild children. Jessica decides to go with him.
So I’m going to test him.
There they have to fight a band of Lost Boys/Lord of the Flies type guys-who Logan’s manages to outsmart. Logan finds the runner and lets her go, showing that he is on Jessica’s side. This does exactly what he hopes it would, completely convinces her that he is serious.
Unbeknownst to them, Francis has been following Logan to help him, but saw that his time is up and that he let the woman go. Now he is prepared to end him.
But aren’t any more!
Logan remembers that the runner he killed the other day had just been given a face change, in order to help him be harder to track. He decides that is his next stop, accompanied by Jessica.
They get there, where the Doctor’s assistant is played by Farrah Fawcett!
That’s how you know you are in the ’70s! They prepare for the face change, but then the Doctor gets a phone call. The phone call is from the others in the sanctuary group and when he comes back, to operate, he turns his machine on all crazy as Logan finds himself in a real jam.
But of course Logan defeats the doctor and afterwards, he and Jessica run some more, and she takes him to where her people meet. They decide to help him, but he reveals the location on his walkie-talkie and the sandmen come and decimate everyone. Logan realizes his mistake and he and Jessica try to flee.
They run out and think they find sanctuary, but instead run into a frozen ice lair with a crazy robot named Box that freezes escapees and turns them into food for the city.
Yeah I know what you are thinking:
Yes, this came after Soylent Green so it is borrowing a lot of elements.
They manage to escape and find a beautiful outside. Sun? Fresh air? No dome? Also their life clocks have been renewed and reset to white.
They find the old buildings of Washington D.C. and in one is an old man with a ton of cats.
Boom, life goal right there. That’s who I want to be.
You know, minus the dystopian future, war, empty world, people dying when they reach 30, etc.
But things don’t stay that way as Francis comes and Logan has to fight him.
They decide after that to go back and help the others, taking the old man with them as proof.
Logan: NO! Don’t go in there! You don’t have to die! No one has to die at 30! You could live! LIVE! Live, and grow old! I’ve seen it! She’s seen it! [shows the crystal on his palm] Well, look! LOOK! LOOK, IT’S CLEAR!
[crowd laughs]
Computer: Last day, Capricorn 29’s. Year of the City: 2274. Carousel begins.
Jessica: No! Don’t! Don’t go! Listen to him! He’s telling the truth!
[more laughter]
Jessica: We’ve been outside! There’s another world outside! We’ve seen it!
[Sandmen grab them]
Logan: Life clocks are a lie! Carousel is a lie! THERE IS NO RENEWAL!
So I really enjoyed it! There are a lot of elements borrowed from other films-but a whole lot more films borrow from it, so it evens out.
janeaustenrunsmylife 