Rating: 
Summary: Terminate With Extreme Prejudice
Review: Quite possibly the greatest film of all time, APOCALYPSE NOW was sniggered at in pre-reviews and, upon release, dismissed as "really wierd" by one prominent film critic in my area.Van Gogh wasn't recognized during his time, either. For all the trouble Coppola had bringing his masterpiece to the screen (documented in a fantastic documentary, HEARTS OF DARKNESS) including star Martin Sheen having a heart attack and the Marco's continually repossessing helicopters to fight Philipine rebels, the final product is an amazing amalgom of war film, psychological introspection, and updating of "Heart Of Darkness." This film works on every level. I consider it the absolute pinnacle of filmmaking. I simply cannot recommend it highly enough.
Rating:
Summary: I've seen the light
Review: A while back (been at least a year) I gave this film a low rating. That review was based on the memory of seeing the film when I was young. I now own the film and watch it frequently. Its a masterpiece. Its not so much a story of Vietnam as it is a story about us and what we are capable of in certain situations. Any one of us can become the things we hate and despise given the right circumstances. This film could have been set in any war, time, or location and been just as powerful.
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest War Movie Ever
Review: Saving Private Ryan, Platoon, Gallipoli... No War movie ever has yet surpassed Apocalypse Now. It will probably remain the greatest war movie ever made. Apocalypse Now's main theme is timeless- the insanity of war. Once you have seen this, you will understand how ridiculous movies like Pearl Harbor are... The horror. The horror. The power to be able to wipe out a man. A man. A part of a family, someone who has memories, emotions, belongings. We have an ability to devastate all that. That is what a species we are...that's how powerful we are. Animals act on instinct. They don't have a conscience, unlike us. They do not have the judge right from wrong. We do. How should a man be at war? Should he be able to kill without feeling? That's the best soldier! But would you like to be a friend of someone like that? Someone who lacks ethics? But ethics is something that gets in way in a war. It could mean death. You are now thinking that we already know this stuff. Yet we forget it too quickly for comfort. Try to remember recent pop cultural stuff. Anybody remember Furby? Exactly. That was a distant example, I do admit. War is much more memorable, mostly thanks to Hollywood. Nobody forgets the two World Wars, Vietnam and the Gulf War. But wait- those are all American wars. The only ones remembered. Goddamn you Hollywood. Apocalypse Now, though is not about any war. It is about mankind. The fact that it is an American war is unimportant. It is only a ring for the most horrifying battle of humanity. I sit here now, writing this review for perhaps the most educational movie ever, sipping on a cold glass of coke. My mother is inside, talking on the phone about a tea they will attend next week. A 23 year old male African is sitting in the bush, near his hut, where 3 young children are eating some rice, every second being too precious to waste. A bullet might enter his head any moment. A corny way of telling things, but it's the truth. Will anybody stand up and object? Now, after knowing this, will my life change? No. Because I can do nothing against it. Or that's what we believe. And that is why, I will continue to sip my coke with great relief. We can only be thankful and pray that we will never be in such circumstances. But that doesn't help the African, does it? The heart of darkness is not some jungle, Omaha Beach or a desert in Iraq. It is our memories of the past. The memories where man has to choose between humanity or staying alive. Francis Ford Coppola, I want to thank you for risking your health, future and sanity for this movie. Not many people in the world will ever be able to understand such passion for "only" a movie. I await your next movie, Megalopolis, your utopia. Until then, I can only sit here and wait. I hope you manage to reclaim your glory of the old days. War can create monsters out of people. We should never forget that our destinies are tied to the people sitting with the flags of our nations behind them, deciding for our future. And that there are wars being fought, lives being lost, that CNN doesn't talk about. Apocalypse Now brought all that. It truly disturbed me and my quest in movie-making. I will never be able to watch a movie like Pearl Harbor and be entertained or enlightened or affected. This movie supplies us with so many reasons to hate mankind, it is truly sad. But it is the truth. The horror. The horror. If you have anything to say at against or for this, please contact me.
Rating:
Summary: ''this is the end..''
Review: astonishing film,great performances,the story of Nam,''the end''was or is like that..Brando was''god''..
Rating:
Summary: Horror and Moral Terror are my Friends
Review: Apocalypse Now is a war movie that's not about war. Well, war in a conventional sense anyway. It is about the inner struggles that man faces in the presence of horror. Francis Ford Coppola has taken Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness and conveyed his message through the words of Martin Sheen and the setting of Vietnam. Apocalypse Now is a true triumph of film with unnerving, haunting performances from Marlon Brando and Martin Sheen. The aura of the film is steeped in evil and darkness. Coppola's direction is nothing short of breathtaking. There are scenes of graphic violence where the camera does not flinch nor do the characters. The most memorable character, besides Col. Kurtz, is Kilgore played by Robert Duvall to sheer perfection. Kilgore is the leader of a renegade battalion who goes around "the 'nam" looking for "the sh!t." Some of the best lines ever written are pulled off to pure perfection. "I love the smell of napalm in the morning, smells like...victory." This is classic stuff and a masterpiece of the cinema. The mystique behind the making of this film makes it all the more intriquing, sort of like the movie was cursed. But, anyway no one should go through life without once watching this life altering film. Also check out Hearts of Darkness which depicts the making of Apocalypse Now and all of the problems associated with it.
Rating: 
Summary: Overhype
Review: This movie (along with Dark City) is one that people like to say is a masterpiece with complex,inspiring messages. These people either need to stop pretending they are Stephen Hawking or watch more movies because this one is incoherent nonsense
Rating: 
Summary: Great movie !!
Review: You should know the story of this DVD by now. So, I just review the technical aspect of the disc. First of all, this movie has been released 3 times on LD. First the P & S which is not that good, then in early 90's a Wide Screen version with terrific sound quality and good video as well. But in 1997, Paramount released a dolby Digital version of the LD with the same picture quality as the earlier WS LD but with superior Dolby Digital surround sound which I consider the best sounding LD ever. The DVD picture quality is better than any of the LDs but I don' think its 5.1 Dolby Digital audio can match the great sound of the LD's Dolby Digital sound. If you are a big fan of the movie and still watch LD from time to time, I strongly suggest you search for the Dolby Digital version of the LD. You won't be sorry. I would have given this DVD a five stars but the sound is a bit let down if you have the Dolby Digital LD to compare to.
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Summary: A new version
Review: Recently my dad was on Foxnews.com. He showed me something interesting. Francis Ford Coppola recently,along with editor Walter Murch,has created a new version of Apocalypse Now, with restored new footage. This version is almost an hour longer (This new version now runs at 3 hours, 14 minutes) and tells more about Brando's Character and other things, including a love relationship. Recently, this 'Apocalypse Now Redux' (As Coppola called it) debuted in french theatres. It should be in the U.S in August, opefully, the same way as in France. Be sure to check it out.
Rating:
Summary: Harrowing war epic
Review: When the United States was thrown into the quagmire of the Vietnam conflict, the nation entered into one of its most trying, devastating and longest wars, suffering the loss of thousands of its finest men and women to the perils of warfare. In the years preceding the long-awaited finale, Hollywood opened the floodgates of war memories, unleashing a host of movies pertaining to the war-- "Born On the Fourth Of July," "Full Metal Jacket," and the acclaimed "The Killing Fields." Although the war movies released during this post-war era did vividly communicate the aura of human suffering from the battlefield. In 1979, a more distinct and harrowing account of agony surfaced into the mainstream of American entertainment-- "Apocalypse Now,"a disturbing narrative of a United States Army Captain (Capt. Willard, played by Martin Sheen)enmeshed in a web of politics and a superego battle of his ethics. In a nutshell, Sheen portrays Capt. Willard, an aloof and taciturn man who, after having served and survived one "tour" of duty, is called back to serve another "tour" and is now assigned the task of executing a fellow U.S. Army officer (Captain Kurtz, played by Marlon Brando) who in essence, has become the "Benedict Arnold" of the regiment. Unwillingly, Willard accepts the assignment from his superior officers, with the instructions to execute Kurtz. Thus, left with no open options, Willard accepts the assignment, and embarks on a journey to locate and enact the order administered to him. It was during the course of his travel down the river with his fellow crewmates that the viewer is able to witness the issues of morality and the agonizing dilemma of humanity which must have echoed like a broken record through not only the minds of the actors, but through the minds and souls of the soldiers who served. The fear of death permeated each soul, as was seen via the vacuous expressions on each man's face as they absorbed the images of death before them. But, survival was key in the jungles and rice paddies in which these men fought, and the toss-up was often between being killed or killing the enemy. Not surprisingly, the ethics and morals of soldiers were often lacerated when many realized that killing was the best option toward survival. Furthermore, a second interesting fact was the portrayal of race issues, notably between the blacks and whites. Although racial tension was robust both abroad and on the home front, it was fascinating to realize that despite the color of the soliders' skins, all were congregating to battle one enemy-- the Viet Cong. Finally, it was touching to see the desperate longing for home which these soliders craved-- the need for laughter, good times, and most important, for the relatively solaced life which many once possessed, but which were stripped bare by the onset of the war. Nowhere in the film can this be best portrayed than the scene in which American showgirls were transported to the military base complemented by the rock and roll music of that time. Perhaps Willard expressed the emotions best when he stated, "...I wish he hadn't done that,really. It made us miss home even more." One final note: the breathtaking cinematographic effects lended a realistic portrayal of the war and presented an irony-- in the lush, placid greeness of the jungles and paddies, a war raged on mercilessly, which claimed the lives of countless young souls. Another irony lies in the very title of this film-- an "apocalypse" as defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary, "an act in which evil forces are destroyed"-- a rightful name for the Vietnam dissension, for in the eyes of the United States, the Viet Cong were the "evil forces." Truly, Francis Ford Coppolla's exceptional masterpiece deserved the eight Academy nominations and the two the film won, for it exemplifies the inordinates of heaven and hell, and the dire consequences which occur when the fine line which divides the two is crossed.
Rating:
Summary: Joseph Conrad on Acid
Review: Forget about whether or not this was the "real" Vietnam. And forget about whether you like Brando's Kurtz or not. See this movie for the fabulous cinematography and some of the most incredible scenes ever filmed and for the terrific narration, "we cut em in half with machine guns, then put a bandaid on it. It's how we lived with ourselves" (much of it by Michael Herr who wrote Dispatches, one of the best books to come out of the Vietnam war)and the great cast lead by a young Martin Sheen. "Rock'n'Rollers with one foot in their graves"....that's who by and large fought that war. And, Coppola is very sympathetic to them. But not so to their elders and their leaders. Guerilla warfare with teenagers "Cool had come from some Bronx hellhole, and the heat and light of Vietnam had put the zap on his brain". Coppola's film is also about the clash of cultures...the 60's America of drugs and rock'n'roll, technology & materialism, fighting this insane jungle war in a basically feudal society unchanged for centuries. Water skiing behind the boat, the waves overturning sampans; surfing under motarfire and having steaks and beer afterword; Playboy bunnies dancing at a firebase camp & causing a riot "Charlie didn't get USO, his only way home was victory."; the orders to murder a Colonel who the Brass "had been grooming for a top slot in the Corporation"...a Colonel who had left hypocrisy behind and now waged total guerilla war. The trip up the river to Colonel Kurtz is definitely worth taking. Coppola's movie is about the progressive insanity of the war and the deeper Sheen's Willard and his reluctant Navy boat crew get into the jungle the crazier it all gets until they reach the Heart of Darkness...Kurtz's nihilistic camp of no-holds-barred, no remaining human restraints or compassion, all-out brutal warfare. "Method? I don't see any method here at all...." There is so much good stuff here that 1000 words won't do it justice. This is as much an examination of the American psyche in that war than it is of the actual fighting of the war. It is brilliant art, not a documentary. Whatever else he may NOT have accomplished in this film, Coppola genuinely caught the insanity, lies and hypocrisy of that savage war that took naive American boys into a vicious guerilla war with atrocities committed on all sides to no discernible purpose. He exposed the Dark Heart under the platitudes. A great film of ideas framed by indelible, unforgettable images. A Classic.
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