Apocalypse Now

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Summary: A tale of Human Nature
Review: I submitted a review of this before - But it must have gotten lost

Based on the Joseph Conrad novel 'The Heart Of Darkness', Apocalypse Now ranks as one of the greatest movies of all time, totally stamped on our pop-culture. Forged by the awesome vision of both John Milius and [director] Francis Coppola, the film is set during the Vietnam War where Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is ordered by the Army to take a navy patrol boat into Cambodia and kill the renegade Colonel Kurtz. The journey of Captain Willard not only becomes a lesson about the horror of war, but also about the very nature of humanity. While most films are lucky if they contain one or two great sequences, Apocalypse Now is nothing but a series of great sequences tied together by the river, the river that takes Captain Willard straight to Colonel Kurtz and the films misunderstood ending. Confusing to some, the end is perfect as fails to answer any questions about 'right' and 'wrong' - Questions easily lost during the Vietnam War.

Apocalypse Now is better that Platoon, Full Metal Jacket or even the overrated 'Saving Private Ryan' because it simply goes beyond those films. It goes beyond war straight into the soul where it discovers things about humanity many don't want to know. It is, in short, a tale of Human Nature.

Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest...
Review: Screenwriter John Milius, borrowing a plot-line from Joseph Conrad's novella "Heart of Darkness," crafts an insanely vivid story of Vietnam. It follows an army captain (Sheen) who is assigned to travel up a river into Cambodia to assassinate Colonel Kurtz (Brando), a Special Forces officer gone mad. Along the way, Vietnam opens its doors and reveals itself. American soldiers killing innocent people, the countless bodies and skeletons left by Kurtz, and the madness afflicting everyone. It is a harrowing experience to watch this movie. The Kurtz compound scenes are a nightmare of still death, long maligned by critics as an unsatisfying denouement to an otherwise dazzling piece of epic film making. But what is not understood is that Marlon Brando, as self-indulgent and wallowing as his sequences might be, is a living embodiment of the wicked decadence and moral confusion of Conrad's figure of Kurtz.

What's hard to believe, looking back at this two-decade old movie, is its fresh, modern appearance. This movie is seamlessly dateless. Coppola hasn't infused any timetable in which to judge the movie from. It happens during the Vietnam War and not from some twisted, revisionist history viewpoint that plagues almost all war movies. Coppola's homage to Vietnam is very much his masterpiece. Its importance and substance outweighs his Godfather series.

As for the DVD, this is the cleanest copy of the movie I've seen including theatrical screenings. A few flaws were detectable as you'd expect, but all things considered quality is excellent and it is widescreen enhanced. The film is remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1, and they did a good job. The rear speakers aren't used alot but you do get the obligatory chopper flyovers, etc. Some good booms as you would expect. Unfortunately, there are not many extras, but what's there is interesting. The movie was originally released without credits and instead a program was handed out at the door. Excerpts from that program are on the DVD. Also, the alternate ending which Coppola says isn't an alternate ending is present. You can view it with Coppola's commentary to get the story.

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Summary: Epic war mythology
Review: "Apocalypse Now" is considered one of the greatest movies ever made; and for the most part, I agree. It's set during The Vietnam War as shell shocked Cpt. Willard (Martin Sheen), an Army/CIA operative, is assigned to find and kill Col. Kurtz. The mission seems rediculous, murder a highly decorated and honored American militery officer. As Willard goes along, he encounters several colorful character, like Lt. Col. Kilgore (Robert Duvall), a nutty Calvery commander who orders his men to surf during a morter attack. The men in his PT boat are just regulor soldiers trying to survive and go home. Willard is seriously depressed, and his second tour is just a way not to have to deal with it. In the end, he dosn't realy believe in anything. Col. Kurtz (Marlon Brando) is the other side othe coin; he is a war mongerer, a psychotic version of Patton. He is totally mad, and dosn't even want to try to restrain himself. He totally believes that the atrosities he commits is the only way to win a war. When Willard finally gets to Kurtz's camp, he finds Kurtz is revered by the inigionous tribes and deserter soldiers as a god. The movie is sort of framed like the Greek myths, where the hero must decend to the underworld and face Hades, except like Pirithous, Willard dosn't quiet get out. Francis Ford Coppola's movie is wonderful, dark and gritty. Not only is war terrible, so is the warrior's mind set. The cast is amazing, Sheen's Willard broods with the best of them. Brando is thoughly insane, all that method acting really pays off here. And then there is Duvall's Kilgore, sort of the middle ground between Willard's depression and Kurtz's mania. He is gleefully cheerful as a man who loves war, loves his men, and loves a good wave. He is silly, but not to dangourous, a man who could thrive in a place like Vietnam. It's a classic war movie, maybe not totally authentic, but it's still powerful drama.

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Summary: Tedious and ultimately silly.
Review: This tiresome (153 minutes) film is loosely based upon one of the great long short short stories of all time, Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness." Except for the fact that the protagonist in each is named Kurtz and mutters "The Horror, the Horror," at the time of his death, there is otherwise little resemblance. The novel is a masterpiece of concise prose; this film is a wretched example of overindulgence.

Those who share in Hollywood's professed hatred of war will probably find this film meaningful. Others, especially those with actual military experience should spend their time and money elsewhere.

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Summary: Ten Reasons to Buy Apocalypse Now
Review: 1-Francis Ford Coppola,
At the height of his creative genuis, and with films like The Conversation, Godfather 1& 2 to his credit, he was considered to be one of the few directors/auteurs,one responsible for enriching American Cinema and lifting it to new artistic heights to this day
2-Brando..Brando..Brando..
He was paid millions to appear just for a short time at the end of the movie, and he is worth every single penny/cent and more. Forget his speech in the opening of Godfather, as great and classic as it is, the 'Horror' speech still gives me a chill down my spine, one of the most haunting speeches in cinema history.
3-Vietnam
With Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now is the best film that dealt with the Vietnam war, and how it slowly affected the hearts and minds of some of its soldiers, pushing them into the darkest recesses of the human soul.
4-Scenes
There are many memorable scenes in Apocalypse Now, but few have forever stuck in my mind, the Helicopters attack with Wagner's music playing, and the tiger jumping out of nowhere in the dense jungle, though short was totally unexpected and scary.
5-Actors
Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Dennis Hopper, Larry Fishburn,all giving 100% and more for Coppola.
6-Joseph Conrad
John Milius and Coppola adapted Conrad's novel, and though Africa became Vietnam, the spirit of the book was not compromised in any way, one of the very few who devled into the darkness of the human soul.
7-The making of Apocalypse Now, appropriately named 'Heart Of Darkness' is the most interesting making of documentary ever filmed. Done by Coppola's wife Eleanor, it brilliantly manages to be personal yet detached and objective, and captures in intimate details the creative process and the difficulties that it encountered with the heart attack (Martin Sheen), near nervous breakdown (Coppola),and logistic problems (with Phillipines army).
8-DVD
Though short on Extras, it is of excellent quality
9-Music
With a combination of classical and original score, the music expresses and complements perfectly each scene.The soundtrack CD is a must buy too, since it also includes extracts from dialogue (including the 'Horror' speech)
10-Movie Library
If you are serious about starting a movie collection or enhancing your present one, then Apocalypse Now is what a 'movie collection' is meant for, a rich and rare film, the product of a time when directors and actors had personal visions great talent, and the free hand to translate it on screen and share it with cinema lovers worldwide.

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Summary: the title Apocalypse Now what does it mean?
Review: Apocalypse now to me means the darkness and evil of today. The heart of darkness of our society today is war in the context of Coppola's movie. Webster's definition of the word apocalypse is: "writing prophesying a cataclysm (violent change) in which evil forces are destroyed" (15). In the context of the movie this definition is true because Kurts dies in the end of the movie and all the evil along with him. I found another definition which said that apocalypse means the death of the world. This definition is close to Coppola's film because the film is about death, war, the loss of morality, the loss of soul, sanity and self. I feel that there is evil in war and in Coppola's movie, war symbolizes the death of the world, humanity, purity, innocence and love. I think that the title of the movie fits the story Coppola is telling. Giving war a face, showing it from another- dark perspective, what it can do to people Apocalypse Now is a success. Close to the end of the movie Coppola showed the words apocalypse now written in white paint as a restatement to the imagery. I don't think anyone could have came up with a better title. It says it all. The whole movie is full of shocking details that are hard to watch, all the blood, the absence of humanity and out of this world reality. Where a man can kill in the night without sight only sounds of the enemy almost as if it's a skill or a trade is unbelievable. Today, it is sad but not much has changed and maybe only has gotten worse. After 9-11 it proved again that the apocalypse of the world is not a fear but a reality. There is war going on right now as I am writing this and people loose their life and their happiness as close ones go to the other side. To me the word apocalypse gives me a notion of something so big, so strong that it cannot be stopped. I hope that's never the case in my time and in the future.

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Summary: Into the heart of darkness
Review: This is an excellent and darkly beautiful film. The sheer hopelessness and apparent endlessness of the war is achingly conveyed in almost every scene-- even those such as the spectacular Air Cavalry assault on a Vietnamese village (look for Coppola in an earlier scene with the Cav as the TV reporter urging Willard to "Just go by like you're fighting!"). Robert Duvall comes close to stealing the show with his blood-and-guts character, Colonel Bill Kilgore, the Cavalry commander. Superb performances by Marlon Brando as Kurtz and Martin Sheen as Willard rescue this flawed interpretation of Conrad. Sheen's internal narration, set against a haunting musical score, holds the film together and is beautifully delivered.

One rumored "alternative ending" of the film is Willard's meeting with the widow of Kurtz, and it is a very great pity that Coppola either did not film it, or cut it. It is the definitive scene of the Conrad work, and might have been of this movie. By depriving the film of the confrontation between Willard and Kurtz's widow, Coppola threw away Conrad's central vision of the conflict between savagery and civilization, truth and lies, moral courage and hypocrisy. This error is inexplicable, and leaves us not disturbed and thoughtful, as the novella does, but depressed and dissatisfied, hence, the four star rating.

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Summary: "I swallowed a bug." Brando in rehearsal for Kurtz
Review: Coppola's masterpiece "Apocalypse Now" is cited as one of the finest pieces of movie-making ever, and I'm personally inclined to agree. Based on Conrad's damning perspective of Europe's influence on Africa in the late 1800's - "Heart of Darkness" - the film succeeds in encapsulating the literally 'dark' moods inherent in the text. The scene wherein a village is attacked by a fleet of helicopters is probably the greatest action sequence ever recorded on film. With regard to performance's Martin Sheen gives a career best shot at the "Marlow" figure of the film Captain Willard. Robert Duvall delievers one of the most memorable lines in film history with a confidence gained from his "Godfather" experiences "I love the smell of Neapalm in the morning...smells of...victory". Equally memorable is Denis Hopper's crazed photo-journalist, in order to get into character Hopper apparently didn't wash for weeks - at this his characterisation of Conrad's "Harlequin" didn't stink! MARLON BRANDO was heavily criticised at the time of release for an imcomprehensible piece of ham acting - but who else could have contained the thoughts of the evil Kurtz's brain better than the world's finest actor? Today his performance thrills us to the marrow with his raving on the hacking off of arms and "horror". TOP DOG!

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Summary: One Of The Greatest Films Ever
Review: It's hard to catagorize APOCALYPSE NOW. It's about war, but isn't a war film.....it's more about the darkness of the human soul and man's inability to overcome the terrors of the world without going insane.

This isn't a hyper-realistic vision of the Vietnam War, but in its drugged, insane, dryly humorous worldview of a conflict with little meaning and its impact on the souls and minds of a boat crew escorting a military assassin to dispatch a Army Colonel who has gone psychopathic and has formed his own army of Asian primitives to wreak mindless bloodshed, the film transcends the war setting and becomes a journey into the absurd. It may not be how the Vietnam War actually WAS, but certainly may be how it felt to some who were involved.

Some of the most powerful images in cinema are displayed in this film. Witness the drugged, drunken, and disturbing opening scene of Willard, the army assassin, having a nervous breakdown in his hotel room.......or the helicopter attack on a Viet Cong village, which is stunning in its scope and ferocity.....or the final haunting shot of the film, with the words "the horror....the horror" whispered as a final denounement.

A must-have for any film collection. The only drawback: for the DVD version of this film, director of photography Vittoro Storaro has chosen to crop the original 2:35 Panavision framing down to about 2:1, cutting a fair amount of picture off the sides of the frame. Thankfully, this isn't noticeable most of the time, but a handful of shots in the movie are ruined by the loss of picture information.

And avoid the longer, reconstructed REDUX version until you've seen this original masterpiece. REDUX has some interesting new scenes, but they add nothing to the narrative and have a negative effect on the pacing of the film.....the original APOCALYPSE is a masterpiece, and REDUX is just a interesting alternate version that is frequently boring and doesn't have the same impact as the original.

Rating:
Summary: Watching a snail crawl on a straight razor!
Review: An excellent movie, but couldn't both versions of the movie been included on the Redux DVD? Sometimes it's just too much to commit to the Redux version. That's not to suggest that the replaced scenes detract in any way from the sublime beauty of the film, but neither does it add meaning, so much as to make it preferable to the original. One of the most outstanding parts of the movie is the sound, which contributes so much to the eerie quality. Also, these are classic film characters.... Duvall, Hopper. The setting of the movie is deceptive since it 's possible to not enjoy the genre of war movies and still love "Apocalypse Now." What it's really about is the human mind. Coppola takes the viewer into a dreamlike state to evoke how the mind might cope with prolonged trauma. War movies are chararcterized by long battle scenes, the terror of bloody battlefields and the camaraderie among soldiers, but what stands out here is the journey and the mystery. The majority of the picture is Sheen's character's journey to find Colonel Kurtz. All we see through the first three quarters is noir type photographs. So, though Brando has little comparable screen time, the build-up of "who is Colonel Kurtz?" gives him epic stature. For a first viewing or a DVD collection, the original is probably best, but for a true fan, Redux too is a must see.