Articles
The Greatest Twist in Sci-Fi Movie History Happened 57 Years Ago & It’ll Never Be Topped
It’s not uncommon for movies to have plot twists that not only surprise the audience but change the entire movie experience. Films like The Sixth Sense, Get Out, Shutter Island, and even Gone Girl are all largely defined by their well-crafted twists that reveal shocking information that flips the movie upside down and make it impossible to ever see it the same way again. However, even with such massive twists being a staple of movies — especially sci-fi movies — there is one film whose twist ending not only popularized the use of twist endings in film but still stands as the greatest movie twist of all time nearly six decades after stunning moviegoers.
Opening in theaters back in 1968, Planet of the Apes stunned audiences with its surprising ending and firmly cemented itself as having one of if not the most memorable movie endings of all time. Based on the novel by Pierre Boulle, Planet of the Apes stars Charlton Heston as astronaut George Taylor who finds himself stranded on a distant planet in the year 3978 where he soon learns that the planet is run by highly evolved, intelligent apes who have enslaved the primitive and mute human beings. Taylor eventually befriends two chimpanzees, Dr. Zira and Dr. Cornelius who help him escape but his escape from the apes comes with a terrible revelation. When Taylor is taken to the “Forbidden Zone” where he will be safe, he discovers the top half of the Statue of Liberty sticking out of the sand, revealing that he’s not on a far-flung planet, but on Earth that had been destroyed by humanity itself with nuclear war being the implication. It’s a twist that audiences didn’t see coming.
Why Does Planet of the Apes’ Twist Ending Work So Well?
It’s undeniable that the twist in Planet of the Apes is huge and completely reframes the entire movie once you’ve seen it, and part of what makes it work so well is that it actually works on multiple levels. Perhaps the most notable thing about the twist is the visual element. The final shot of the Statue of Liberty destroyed and half-buried in the sand is shocking. As one of America’s most recognizable symbols, the visual alone communicates nearly everything you need to know but also packs a massive emotional punch. In addition to that, the twist also plays on subtle clues and foreshadowing in the film itself. While the film presents things to where the viewer believes that Taylor has landed on an alien world, we see Cornelius with human artifacts that are easily recognizable to the audience as items from our everyday lives. Dr. Zaius also reveals that he is aware of ancient human civilization and, before Taylor leaves, warns he may not like what he finds in his search for answers.
The film quietly sets things up without giving too much away too quickly — most of the clues about human civilization come closer to the end of the movie — and then confirms the truth without actually saying it in as many words. The audience is left to process the massive revelation in much the same way as Taylor is, leaving everyone horrified in the process. It’s masterful, and it hasn’t been topped.
Many Have Tried, But Planet of the Apes Still Has the Best Twist
Planet of the Apes wasn’t the first film to employ a twist ending and it certainly wasn’t the last, but almost sixty years later, that moment on the beach still stands as the greatest. After Planet of the Apes, twist endings started becoming more common, particular with sci-fi films and now, it’s almost a requirement for there to be some sort of unexpected twist in sci-fi for the story to be effective. There have been plenty of films that have successfully implemented the idea, too. 1973’s Soylent Green, which coincidentally also stars Charlton Heston, stunned with the revelation that highly processed food wafers that the majority of the population survives on in this dystopian, overpopulated world are made from human bodies. More recently, 2017’s Get Out has the horrifying twist that wealthy white people are using the bodies of young Black people to gain immortality in a genuinely twisted way.
There’s even a twist that has come close to being as solid as the one in Planet of the Apes. 1999’s The Sixth Sense stunned audiences with the revelation that Malcom Crow (Bruce Willis) had been dead the entire time and was really just a ghost working with young Cole (Haley Joel Osment). Similarly to Planet of the Apes, it’s a twist that is subtly foreshadowed throughout the film but you don’t notice it until it’s fully put in your face. It also established M. Night Shyamalan as a master of the movie twist — but while it’s iconic, it still doesn’t quite beat that final moment in Planet of the Apes. There’s just something about the drama, the horror, and the dread of that moment that will forever reign supreme in movie history.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
The post The Greatest Twist in Sci-Fi Movie History Happened 57 Years Ago & It’ll Never Be Topped appeared first on ComicBook.com.
