6. The ending to Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes “isn’t supposed to make sense”
Sigh. The ending of Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes sucks.
For those who haven’t seen it, Marky Mark Wahlberg goes through an electrical storm and lands on the Planet of the Apes where he goes to war with the apes, in particular general Thade. When Marky Mark goes back to Earth through the same storm, he lands at the Lincoln Memorial Statue only to see the head has been replaced with Thade’s and then a swarm of policeman show up to reveal they are all apes.
A lot of the hate against the movie has been because of the ending.
Tim Roth, who played Thade, said “I cannot explain that ending. I have seen it twice and I don’t understand anything.” Helena Bonham Carter, who played Ari, defended it saying, “I thought it made sense, kind of. I don’t understand why everyone went, ‘Huh?’ It’s all a time warp thing. He’s gone back and he realizes Thade’s beat him there.”
It doesn’t make sense, but apparently that was the idea. Tim Burton said on the DVD commentary that the ending “isn’t supposed to make sense” and it was left open so they had the options for sequels. However, when asked if he would do another movie, Burton said he’d rather “jump out a window”.
That puts a rest to that I suppose.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9ZJ0F8Ik9E
Luke Owen is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors and the host of the Flickering Myth Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.
Originally published July 17, 2014. Updated April 15, 2018.
