To your second point, I always just assumed that it was because of the ever-present surface threat of the apes. The underground humans do not appear to be located very far from ape civilization, and also have no weapons (aside from that big suicidal bomb).

@northcoast said:

To your second point, I always just assumed that it was because of the ever-present surface threat of the apes. The underground humans do not appear to be located very far from ape civilization, and also have no weapons (aside from that big suicidal bomb).

That would be a great reason in the short term, a year or 2 after the revolution, but after 12 years? Subjecting themselves to 300 roentgens of radiation? (google tells me 400r causes sicknesss & death within 30 days)

I came up with another possibility, building off your idea, that would've been really cool if they had explored it. The new governor, Kolp, is shown to be bitter & paranoid to the point that he would detonate the doomsday bomb if they lose. It wouldn't be a stretch to portray him as so insane that he would kill any citizens who tried to leave the dead city. His personality shows that sort of "cut off my nose to spite my face" mentality.

So initially they'd have to hide underground for a year or 2, during which time Kolp becomes progressively more insane, powerful & controlling, and he basically turns the colony into a sort of cult where any dissenters/defectors are killed or tortured. Logically it would fit the story, but the movie gave no indication of this. Meh I'll let it slide ;)

But the talking apes thing... that has no conceivable explanation 🤔I feel like the writers, in their attempt to tie in the final installment with the original POTA set in 3950, jumped ahead too far on the ape evolutionary scale without realizing the super ape Caesar only had 1 offspring at the time. After 2000 years it would make sense that talking apes would be everywhere, but the writers forgot this story is set in 2003 when Caesar is 30 years old and his only son is 12!

Perhaps the best fix to make any sense of this is to borrow from the reboot series and assume that Cornelius and Zira came back from the future harboring some sort of genetic virus, which was harmless / dormant for them but when they came in contact with other apes, provoked their change in intelligence and ability to talk...

Absolutely not what was intended as they'd obviously not bothered thinking it through at all but maybe we can go with that, to give this otherwise decent film a pass.

Another thing about the humans not leaving, rooprect, is that to my eye that warhead was on an ICBM. So they could not take the rocket with them-- if they wished to find another home --and thus their only option was to stay around the weapon until such time as they decided to use it. I don't think the humans cared that such use would mean their own immolation, considering their blind hatred for the apes.

@Midi-chlorian_Count said:

Perhaps the best fix to make any sense of this is to borrow from the reboot series and assume that Cornelius and Zira came back from the future harboring some sort of genetic virus, which was harmless / dormant for them but when they came in contact with other apes, provoked their change in intelligence and ability to talk...

Absolutely not what was intended as they'd obviously not bothered thinking it through at all but maybe we can go with that, to give this otherwise decent film a pass.

Interesting! I saw the first of the reboot movies an thought it was pretty good, but I never got around to finishing the trilogy. That's a creative solution to the problem.

You're right, the original POTA movies don't specifically imply that, but Conquest does show Caesar having an immediate hypnotic effect on the other apes whenever he's around them (Great eye acting by Roddy McDowell!). It plants the idea that Caesar awakens their dormant potential, and maybe after 12 years that could mean speech and higher intelligence? The virus angle gives it a little extra push.

@northcoast said:

Another thing about the humans not leaving, rooprect, is that to my eye that warhead was on an ICBM. So they could not take the rocket with them-- if they wished to find another home --and thus their only option was to stay around the weapon until such time as they decided to use it. I don't think the humans cared that such use would mean their own immolation, considering their blind hatred for the apes.

How could I miss that! Of course, that answers everything. The missile is really the last symbol of authority (to them at least) in a chaotic & lawless world, sort of like the conch shell in Lord of the Flies. So it makes sense that they'd cling to it for security. That would be enough reason for them to brave the radiation... and I'm assuming after 12 years they'd probably have some natural immunity to radiation anyway (those who survived the initial 30 days).

I thought it was pretty clever how they worked the missile into this movie, linking it with Beneath the POTA. There's a speech at the end where that guy convinces Elaan (her name from Star Trek lol) that she shouldn't detonate the missile because, unused, it would be a symbol of hope. I think he closes by saying something like "even worshipped!" which explains the fanatic cult in Beneath. So definitely I think you hit it: the dead city survivors wanted to stay close to the missile, since they couldn't exactly move it.

@rooprect said:

... It plants the idea that Caesar awakens their dormant potential, and maybe after 12 years that could mean speech and higher intelligence? The virus angle gives it a little extra push.

Yeah, exactly. It absolutely doesn't hint at this at any way in the movie mind you but you can go with it and sort of make it work. We do see in the previous movie that the apes are being pushed intellectually in their roles of servitude, so maybe that and the virus, causes the accelerated time frame for the ape uprising that's mentioned in the original film.

You should definitely watch the rest of the reboot trilogy if you get the chance. I would rate the first two pretty highly. The third one dropped off a bit but was still a reasonable conclusion... Actually, thinking about it, I'm not sure if there has been a better modern "reboot" of an old classic.