Rating: 
Summary: Better than you might think...
Review: The first time I saw this movie I was only 13, and I wondered what the big deal was about. I thought the movie was very long, and didn't have much of a point. Then came the VCR, and I promptly added this movie to my collection, because over the years, I had come to appreciate the finer points of the movie, rather than just the obvious stuff. Then DVD came out. I resisted at first, but was overcome by falling prices, and grudgingly purchased first the player, and shortly thereafter, this movie. I'll get the DVD vs. VHS debate out of the way now. Go buy a DVD player! On to the review of the movie. Yes, it's still quite long. How long, you ask? Don't make any plans that evening. But, after watching this version with the added scenes, I wonder why they were cut out in the first place. OK, nobody would have gone to see the movie in the theater. But, after watching this new version, it was almost as though I had seen a new movie, not just a thrown-together rehash of the same old stuff. Hard to believe, but true. A warning: If you decidde to buy this DVD just to see the French plantation scenes because it makes a theatrical masterpiece complete, you might want to set your sights a little lower. That's a nice way to say it's a little slow.(boring) But, don't let that hang you up, this is the way the movie should have been from the start. If you own the original, look into this.(rent) If you have the VHS and are building a DVD collection, buy this. If you are a fan of the genre, this is a must have. I rated this movie 4 out of 5 only because I couldn't give it 4 and a half. It's almost a perfect movie. And this DVD is a good buy for anyone who enjoys good movies.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie made better
Review: Just like wishing Barrys Sanders and Mark McGuire would come back... Willard did!!! The original Apocalypse was a movie to watch over and over. When "the making of" came out, I watched it just before each viewing of the movie. It was then that I realized how much more the original could be. Francis hits it right on with the additional footage. The story-line and characters are more developed and makes the original now seem like a "rush" up the river. THREE CHEERS (and four stars) for Francis!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but should have...
Review: ...provided a better way to see both versions. New scenes are identified in the scenes menu, but it would have been nice to be able to see the old version "straight through" via the same DVD and compare it to "redux". (I suppose there might be technical problems with that, but I could live with a hiccup or two as the new "redux" scenes were skipped). On balance, I agree with those who think "redux" is not really an improvement. It's cool to see the extra scenes, but they don't add enough to the movie to justify themselves.
Rating: 
Summary: Terrific Director's Cut Of a Chilling Film!
Review: I was glad to hear that Francis Ford Coppola had joined into the Hollywood cottage industry of reissuing classic films with new directorial re-editing and added footage. In what can only be described as a psychedelic adventure of the century, the newest version of Coppola's "Apocalypse Now Redux" reverberates the very screen it is being shown on, in this case my new 53 inch Sony projection TV set. It was a joy to spend more time with the ensemble of memorable characters populating this film, from the shockingly violent portrayal by Martin Sheen as the young captain sent as an assassin on a mission to terminate a renegade Colonel's command with "extreme prejudice", to Robert Duvall's stunning performance as a gung-ho warrior whose comical fascination with surfing along the Mekong Delta numbs him to the carnage swirling around him. He appears to be immune. When men question his taking a ridge to facilitate someone trying to ride the waves, he quips, "Charlie can't surf!" There is Lawrence Fishburne in one of his first roles, and Frederick Forsythe likewise turning in a key performance. There is, of course, Dennis Hopper, as a burned-out news correspondent turned acid freak turned court fool, and even a very young and taciturn Harrison Ford as a young Colonel's assistant in the opening scenes in Saigon. Trying to describe Marlon Brando's turn as the psychotic renegade Colonel is difficult, other than to say that it seems inspired, a chilling portrait of a man whose life seemed to suddenly lurch off the highway of life careening recklessly into the volcano lurking within. What we see here are men trying to survive the random madness of war, trying to cope in whatever fashion as they can muster to hold back the hands of fate, knowing all the while that they will likely not succeed. And so we venture as Sheen and the crew of his patrol boat take a journey up the river into the heart of darkness. This is a ride well worth taking, and an even more unforgettable movie in its new and extended re-edited version. I highly recommend it. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Better than the theatrical release!
Review: It's hard to sit through a movie that's 3 ½ hours long; especially when you know how it ends. Titanic?! Until now... What a duo Francis Coppola and Marlon Brando make. Although they have had a few disappointments together, the stats are in their favor and Apocalypse Now Redux might only be second to the Godfather saga. The added scenes help round out the story filling in important elements. The movie seemed to flow better thus making the time pass quickly. Martin Sheen is excellent; the plot, the direction and sound track was also excellent. Apocalypse Now Redux this is better than the theatrical release and thanks to the DVD market, producers and directors have an incentive to go back to the studio and recut the original for the lucrative aftermarket. Apocalypse Now Redux is worth the time and dollars spent. Add it to your collection and give the original to a friend.
Rating:
Summary: The deepest and perhaps the greatest film of all time
Review: Apocalypse Now Redux, that is. Apocalypse Now also is quite good, but not only was it not Coppola's full vision of the film, it doesn't hold the epic granduer that this version has. This version, which stretches nearly 3 and 1/2 hours, fully captures what Coppola, who was quite sane and comfortable in the Zoetrope studio a few years back assembling this edit, wanted. The new scenes were omitted for various reasons. One scene, with Laurence Fishburne telling a story about a grunt who liked to poke holes in particular places in Playboy's, was omitted because of sound quality. The French Plantation scene and the extra scene with the boys fooling around with the Playmates were perhaps omitted because of the censors in 1979. There was already plenty of nudity in the original cut, plus the French Plantation scene may have been too far removed from the boat, if you understand what I mean. Other new scenes extend Robert Duvall's performance and also add some humor.
This definetly is the greatest depiction of Vietnam ever. Ever. Oliver Stone grabbed Charlie Sheen (In case you've been living under a rock, that's Martin's son) and tried to captivate Vietnam from his own personal experiences. PLATOON was a good movie, but was not as good. FULL METAL JACKET was also a decent outing. Suddenly, out of nowhere, wannabe Vietnam flicks tried to capture what Apocalypse Now did. BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY and now WE WERE SOLDIERS. But when I first saw this film, it stayed with me for quite a while. I kept thinking about it, the broad scope of it, the cultish following of Kurtz, the amazing electronic score by Coppola and his father, and perhaps my favorite moment- many children with Kurtz staring in at Willard from his prison with bright light shining in. Wait a minute, that's nowhere near as moving as the scene at Wa Tang bridge, which was so bizarre yet so Vietnam, so I guess, real. We all have our favorite. Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks wish they could do this type of cinematic war epic, but they still haven't.
Viewer discretion is strongly advised for this version (even if you're over 17!). Profanity is quite explicit (including references to female organs), there is even more nudity, and there's the drug use. Violence is actually not as bad as I expected. We really don't see many people dying. We just see dead bodies everywhere.
Extremely deep. Highly recommended!!
Rating: 
Summary: Not exceptionaly terrible
Review: First off, yes the original is probably my favorite movie. But for one, this dvd is very poor quality. No real additional features. I thought the original was a long movie....but now that i've seen redux i have a profound respect for the editor of the original. The scenes in this new version were cut for a reason. Some of them are good yeah, but they're not spectacular. The scene where sheen helps steal a surfboard, and then later killgore flys around in his copter demanding it back over the loudspeaker is just sort of well....silly. And lets face it, this is hardly a silly movie. The scene where they meet up with the bunnies just dosnt make any sense to me....i've watched it several times and i have no clue what sort of message they're trying to get through; wonderful acting though. The added scene with the french plantation is purley about politics. I could barely pay attention; i thought it was a well established idea in the film that we had no business being in vietnam. In this scene they go through in great detail all the reasons why we shouldnt be there. Who cares? This isnt a movie about politics, its THE movie about war. And probably the most anticipated new scene is one with Brando. He simply reads a time magazine article bluntly. Its not a bad scene...but a far cry from the amazing performance in the original. I would of bought if it was in the original because in this scene he's quite matter-of-fact instead of his usually thoughtfull vagueness. It does a nice job of showing how his moods change is all. But the thing is, it does show Brando's entire body. I feel embarrased to say but i could see his "man breasts" even through his loose fitting robes. I'm sure this was the reason it was cut out in the first place. But all in all, the new scenes are neat to watch, but come nowhere near to the original version. They add a lot of confusion on just who wilard is. In the original he was just about the only character that was well established: you knew exacly who he was and what he wanted to do. In this version....he does these random things that seem totally out of character.
Rating:
Summary: the horror... the horror...
Review: Apocalypse Now is a powerful, important and controversial movie, packed with often exciting and impressive battle sequences, heart-pounding moments of suspense and a true feel for time and place. Some people call it the best war movie ever made. This mammoth redux version, however, is painfully overlong and exhausting, muting the film's overall impact with a herd of needless additional scenes. Still, if you've never seen it before, it's one big, booming treat.
Rating: 
Summary: Additional scenes made it worse.
Review: The original was great. Although when he finally got to Brando it was pretty anti-climatic to his macabre depressing trip. In the original, it was interested how Sheen pushed forward on his mission through increasing insanity and as a really dulled and disillusioned character who could react to the insanity with calculated determination and clear thought due mainly to already having a hopeless dark meaningless outlook in all of life. Sheen depicted someone already looking at life as hell and nothing really couldn't become more disturbed with dealing with extreme unfamiliar lunacy than he felt all of life was already. Sheen's character displayed a depressed outlook mixed with an iron-will to be able to achieve beyond what normal people could do. His disconnected emotional state let him stomach the bizaare and dangerous totally foreign situations he encountered on his hostile trek. The original portrayed that perfectly. In this version, Martin and his crew get to get laid by Playboy Playmates in the middle. The story is supposed to be unbelievable. But in a positive exaggerated way that makes it seems plausible in context. The mildly famous surfer was surreal to meet but now they are playing with Playmates breasts in a messed up helicopter??? It made the movie corny. Later, when the original had the viewer feeling as Sheen had gone beyond the final limits of where any allies held any position at all. Beyond where no one else penetrated and he was a totally unwelcomed alien. Just a lone hostile target creeping through enemy territory. In this version, when its most desperate for ole Martin, he stumbles across some Frenchmen who give him a square meal and put him up for the night!!!!!?????!!?? They are depressed Frenchmen but the homecooked meal really takes from the mood Sheen's situation. Sheen even gets another chance to get laid here. So much for the morbid isolation he endlessly pushes on through. The scenes should not have been there as in the original. They made the storyline inconsistent and broke the established mood of the film.
Rating:
Summary: Redux is Redundant!
Review: I'm glad I bought the original theatrical version DVD of Apocalypse Now! I loved that film. Now I have seen the Redux version and I can't see any improvement whatsoever by the added material. A few more minutes with Kilgore & Kurtz was okay. Kilgore though was just more of the same, and while the extra business with Kurtz clarified Willard's time of imprisonment, it also made Kurtz less of an enigma. Well, I like enigmas! Now, the added material with the Playboy bunnies and the French Plantation was ridiculous. Apocalypse was never a realistic movie, but more a fever dream, delirious and poetic and weird. But these two extended scenes contributed nothing to the story and the Playboy bunny scene was a reiteration of chaos and lack of command that would be repeated at the last bridge outpost. Redundancy. The French Plantation while beautifully photographed (nothing new here, the entire movie is stunningly shot)to convey a ghostly image, is poorly acted and has some of the most inept dialogue in the film. It too adds nothing. If you see the documentary Coppola's wife made about the actual filming of Apocalypse now, you see the young Francis dissatisfied with the French Plantation and accordingly cutting it. I trust that Francis Ford Coppola's sense better than the older man now, who probably could use a few bucks for the Napa Winery or whatever. No, I prefer the movie I saw originally. That wound its way straight up the river into Kurtz's nightmarish world without bounds & limits...hell all too present on earth. The Horror. There were only occasional side-trips and the narration as well as the narrative flow of images was uninterrupted. So, I ask myself why? Does Francis Coppola (whose work I cherish) really think this is a better picture than the one his younger self cut? Or, did he decide he could use a few bucks and everyone was always curious about what he left out? I don't know and don't care. I'll keep the older flick and let this one pass. 3-1/2 to 4 stars for this one, 5 for the original. PS I hope this kind of later fiddling with great pictures doesn't become a habit.
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