Missing Link

My review was written in July 1989 after watching the movie on MCA video cassette.

An interesting companion piece to "Gorillas in the Mist", Universal's no-dialog feature "Missing Link" had a brief theatrical run last November and currently is in video stores.

Pic limns the travails a million years ago of the last apeman (genus Australopithecus Robustus), doomed to extinction by the more violent race of man. Coming from the "Gorillas" executive producers (and featuring effective makeup effects by Rick Baker, also from that film), pic carries its similar ecological message and warning with agreeable understatement.

The handsome visuals of the Namib desert and various national parks in Namibia shot by filmmakers David and Carol Hughes deserve a big-screen treatment, but absence of a strong narrative makes it more appropriate for the lower involvement of a video audience.

Peter Elliott is expressive and quite sympathetic underneath Baker's variation on an apesuit makeup. After finding his mate and compatriots dead, killed by man's invention of the ax, he wanders to the sea in vain search for other survivors of his kind.

Mood and some setups are similar to Stanley Kubrick's classic "Dawn of Man" sequence in "2001: A Space Odyssey", but with a further inversion as here the viewer is inevitably rooting for the gentle guys our ancestor knocked off. By extension, all other animals on the planet are in danger until we come to our senses, the film implies.

Fascinating views of wildlife ranging from bullfrogs to lions and elephants make this picture of interest to fans of nature shows. Besides "Gorillas in the Mist", it also fits in thematically with producer Dennis B. Kane's previous National Geographic Society documentary feature "People of the Forest".

While looking up the stop-motion animated Missing Link (2019) movie by LAIKA Studios, I came across this older live-action film which just so happened to basically share the same exact title (while being totally unrelated, as far as story is concerned). And when I eventually got around to watching it I was more than pleased because I'm a massive natural history buff, especially when it comes to animal pre-history. All in all, Missing Link was a delightful little discovery that I wouldn't be opposed to watching sometime again in the future.

Like with all these types of adventure films set in the far-distant past of a prehistoric time period, it's really just a load of "guesswork" being done as no one will ever truly know how certain events may have played-out back then in a bygone age. And as a result of this, many filmmakers are often presented with the daunting task of trying to think up a somewhat plausible scenario that's appropriately suited to the plot and fits in well with the ancient era of which their film's story takes place (it must be a real tough challenge for them, essentially having to start from scratch and come up with the bare-basics of something compelling). Also, can't forget about the wondrous beauty of the picturesque landscapes (mostly vast canyons and mountain ranges) as the production crew go-off globe trotting around the world to many different countries to shoot their exotic locations; this gives it a more immersive feeling, being in an actual environment where you're thoroughly surrounded by various wild creatures (rather than them having taken the easy way out by just doing it all in the safety and comfort of a studio's set with a bunch of professionally trained actor animals).

Done in a sort of pseudo-nature documentary style (with some handy voiceover narration being provided, from time to time), the film's principal story is set somewhere between the Pliocene-Pleistocene Epochs and has to do with the miraculous evolution of Australopithecus afarensis, a primitive species of upright-walking great ape which, on the outside, looks almost human-like in an eerie appearance but still retains the brainpower of a chimpanzee (so no smarter than the modern simians we have around today, honestly). While trekking through the vast wilderness of his rough-but-beautiful savannah home and living amongst some of the harmless (and dangerous) African megafauna, our lonely wandering primate protagonist is on the run from being vigorously pursued by a murderous clan of what's presumably Homo habilis, another one of our closely-related ancient ancestors, as they've been savagely wiping-out other members of his kin in Ethiopia's Great Rift Valley, most likely leaving him as the only sole-surviving one left in his family group, or perhaps even the very last of his kind altogether. Will this one lone-survivor finally be able to escape the ravaging clutches of this other, more malicious ape-man race when they have the unfair advantage of using a relatively newly-discovered weapon - the "invention" of fire!

I really liked the portrayal they went with for the A. Afarensis (which, to me at least, looks and acts way more like a Paranthropus bosiei), managing to capture the genuine behaviour of how an early stone-tool using "man-ape" might've possibly acted in the old stomping-grounds of its open grassland plains habitat (it's a purely visceral performance and a darn good one at that). And the authentic hominid depiction in question is played by none other than Peter Elliot who was like the Terry Notary of his day, as in he was always the industry's regular go-to actor for convincing primate performances; he also most notably contributed his peculiar primal talents to King Kong Lives (1986) with Linda Hamilton, Gorillas in the Mist (1988) with Sigourney Weaver, and Congo (1995) with Laura Linney. But before all of that though, he was probably best known for his participation in Quest for Fire (1981) and Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984). And the devilish personalities of the H. Habilis (not to mention the overall appearance of their body posture) reminded me a lot of the mischievous little gremlins from Joe Dante's 1984 horror-comedy of the same name.

The only other thing I can even think to equate this film to is the BBC's Walking With Cavemen mini-series (2003) which seems like a very accurate comparison to make seeing as how it too has an awful lot of backbreaking labour in the form of physical actors in unbearable working conditions all day outdoors with the blistering red-hot sun beating down on them, all while wearing full body-suits and prosthetic makeup-effects, probably suffering from mild heatstroke and experiencing some of the most intense pain throughout a majority of this long and highly difficult shooting process (seriously, every single one of those stellar performers deserved a whole heck of a lot more recognition for their hard efforts than they got). However, I do feel the only downside is that this particular type of movie won't be to everyone's taste as you really have to put yourself in just the right kind of proper mindset to actually want to sit down and watch it, with the film mainly being just a purely visual piece of natural storytelling and not so reliant on dialogue-heavy exposition (except for that which is helpfully provided to us by our occasionally on-and-off narrator).

The Missing link is very different film but an interesting and intelligent film. The scenery was fantastic! I thought the Man-Ape was cool and actually funny at times. the film has good music and a good narration by Michael Gambon. There are some real life killing in the wild like a lion going after a baby zebra and other animals and the part with the chameleon eating the insects was really cool & the scenes with the mating frogs or toads was unusual with the amphibians doing back flips like stunt men! This movie a like very different documentary! If you like a movie that focuses on one character and the animals around him check this movie out if you can because its is very hard to find! Recommended!

I would give this film 9 out of 10. It's really fun to watch. Even without a dialog (or a plot), there's not a dull moment in the movie. And the ape man acted so well that I think he deserves an Oscar!

The filmmakers are apparently experts in the documentary of natural history, which explains the many beautiful sceneries (of Africa, I think) and intriguing sequences with animals. The documentary angle gives it authenticity, but this film has something more to say. It imagines how a pre-historic "ape man" of a now extinct species might have lived. This ape man is not a dumb beast but has a great sense of intelligence and humor (I would have said "humanity" but he is not human). Following his journey, we see mostly pleasant moments of delightful discoveries and occasionally fear and confusion. Then, the ape man has a moment of reflection that brings the film to a logical conclusion.

See this film. You will not be disappointed.

This is not your usual movie. First off there is no dialogue, only a Narrator (who does a great job). This film is made as if a national geographic team had travel back 1000 000 years in time and made a documentary on the last ape-man, one of our many ancestors. I found it more than entertaining, you will actually learn somethings in this movie. The "Star" 's make-up is just awesome and unique as far as i can remember the few films that tackled the prehistoric genre. So If you like anthropology, or are just curious about Man's past and struggles you will love this one. It's scary/funny/tragic/sad... lifelike. And the "Bad Guy" in this movie is YOU and ME - Homo Sapiens. In the line of "Quest for Fire", but even more real.