The irony of the first legendary "POTA" movie was that everyone had to object to the way the humans were treated, when we did just as bad or far worse to our captive animals. "Conquest," the brutal fourth installment of one of sci-fi's greatest franchises, finds irony in bringing us back to square one.<br /><br />Unfortunately, "COTPOTA" is the weakest chapter of all. One reason is probably the "irony x irony" mentioned above. However, that isn't the only reason. This film is populated with ew-don't-touch-me, chauvinistic humans and "See, do" apes. On the plus side, the actors in ape makeup did raise the bar in terms of simian arm-swinging. And Roddy McDowall, as Caesar, the one ape on Earth who can talk, is sort of like the angry Communist leader-pig in Orwell's "Animal Farm," appalled by the wretched treatment of his fellows by their human captors but willing to do some dark, sadistic things to gain the upper hand. Ricardo Montalban is terrific as Armando, Caesar's only human friend, but his scenes are few and (generally) far between. Natalie Trundy (the POTA staple) strives for a genuine performance underneath her thick, mute chimpanzee character, but it doesn't come through. And Don Murray plays Governor Breck, Caesar's villainous foil, whose human superiority complex leads to much torture and violence.<br /><br />The climax of the film is the one key that unlocks the entire jumbled five-film story, but it's heavy on brutality and skimpy on any real substance. Director J. Lee Thompson makes the film darker than obsidian, often shortchanging real emotion for the sake of keeping us biting our nails in terror. Of course, we don't. And Tom Scott's bizarre musical score is not the critical final piece of the puzzle-- it's the corner piece you had no idea even existed.<br /><br />I wouldn't say stay away from this movie, especially if you want to see the entire story. Just be ready for the darkest, most boring POTA movie ever. And about "boring"-- it's only 88 minutes long. So that is saying something.