“Ape vs. Mecha Ape” Movie Review

 

“Ape vs. Mecha Ape”

Movie Review

 

The movie "Ape vs. Mecha Ape," written and directed by Marc Gottlieb, stars Tom Arnold, Xander Bailey, Sady Diallo, and Josh Duhon. The story revolves around the military creating its own battle-ready artificial intelligence (AI), Mecha Ape, but after its first practical test goes disastrously wrong, the military is forced to release the imprisoned giant ape in order to stop the colossal robot before it destroys downtown Chicago.

The opening scene of the movie is an attack by what appears to be Abraham the giant ape on a chemical weapons plant that resembles an old warehouse. After a few blasts, we realize that it is actually a huge, well-armed robot that quickly dismantles the plant's defenses. In the meantime, the real Abraham is angry. He is upset because a drone invaded his territory. In order to calm him down, Sloane, played by Anna Telfer, is called in, while animal rights activist Joel, played by Jack Pearson, is being questioned.

 

Pavla is sad that her son died in the attack when she is back in Volodrezjka. And as his father Arnott holds a prominent position in their foreign intelligence agency, something will be done about it, with Mecha Ape serving as the means by which they accomplish it.

Positively, this is superior to Ape vs. Monster. The VFX we do see are of higher quality than those in the original, even if the first half of the movie is still largely dialogue-driven. Unfortunately, until the final act when it clashes with Abraham when the majority of Mecha Ape's rampage is off-screen, we only hear about it and witness the damage. Ape vs. Mecha Ape's plot isn't as laughably ludicrous, which helps to make up for it, and the dialogue carries the plot along at a reasonable rate so that at least it doesn't grow as monotonous as many of their movies before the now nuclear-equipped robot reaches Chicago.

Hamilton, the Secretary of Defense, is played by Tom Arnold, who is making his Asylum debut. Interestingly, given the way the script is written, this is also true for the majority of the rest of the cast, giving Ape vs. Mecha Ape a sensation of copy-and-paste.

Sloane spends the majority of the movie inside the robot as she tries to turn it off. None of the main cast members appear in any scenes with the Volodrezjkain agents. Joel, Pierce, and Laura all appear in a few scenes with Sloane towards the beginning and conclusion of the movie, although they spend the majority of the time together and don't appear in any other scenes.

The Ape vs. Mecha Ape duel is greater than what we got in the previous movie when the title animals do eventually get to fight. Although there are more sequences of destruction than kaiju aficionados will be expecting, the effects are strong. This movie could have been lot better if it had featured a few moments of mechanical ape action against military conflict. Unfortunately, it falls short of becoming much more than entertaining, wasting a fun plot and effective effects.

WATCH THE REVIEW VIDEO FOR MORE...