Rating: 
Summary: a bit dissapointed
Review: i was quite disappointed with this film and i hate to say it is probably because i am young. i watch a lot of films and have grown to notice things i do not like. for instance the voice over narration to me was over done. i know that at the time it was revolutionary and a lot about this film was, but it just didn't hit me like it hit most people. i prefer Full Metal Jacket.
Rating: 
Summary: Most brilliant Vietnam war movie
Review: Why is this movie so fantastic? Just read the reviews of others around me and you will know. There isnt much I could add on how great this movie is... One aspect I found particularly interesting though was that we are focussing on an element of the Vietnam war widely unknown to the great public: The covert operations of the CIA and other units to raise different tribes in the mountains and forests of Vietnam against the Viet Cong. There was an extremely violent war raging between those warriors equipped and reinforced by American specialists against the communist guerilla. This is what makes this war movie so different from the traditional confrontations US soldiers against VC in movies like Hamburger Hill, Platoon or Full Metal Jacket.
Rating:
Summary: Possibly the greatest film adaptation of a novel
Review: Many people have described this film as being weird or abstract. To me it seems like one of those "truth is stranger than fiction" situations, but perhaps that was Coppola's point in making the film. It took an act of genius on Copolla's part to identify the psychological parallels between Conrad's novel "Heart of Darkness" and the American experience in Vietnam. In both cases, individuals enter an environment in which they discover that their moral code and set of values are irrelevant. And if morality becomes meaningless in one particular place, who is to say that it ever had any meaning at all?Like the novel, the film begins with a mission and a journey. Captain Willard is tacitly ordered to sail up the Mekong river and assasinate an American colonel named Kurtz who has broken away from his chain of command and is conducting the war on his own terms. During the course of the journey Willard researches Kurtz and begins to empathize with him. As Willard's men are slowly killed off, his fear of Kurtz is overshadowed by an overwhelming curiosity toward him. In both the novel and the film, the climax occurs in the form of a revelation rather than dramatic action. After imprisoning and abusing Willard, Kurtz releases him and explains why he has fled to a remote jungle to fight the war on his own terms. Kurtz explains that has a medical officer he and his team inoculated children in a Vietnamese village against polio. Later, they discovered that the Viet Kong had cut of the inoculated arm of every child in the village and left them in a heap. At first, Kurtz wept, but then he came to see "the sheer genius of it". Kurtz realized that the Viet Kong were human and that of course they did not relish mutilating their own children. But they were willing to perpetrate such cruelty in order to show their enemies the level of ruthlessness with which they would resist them. Kurtz realized at that moment that the Viet Kong offered a moral challenge that the Americans could not possibly meet. This was his apocalypse now. To prove his point, Kurtz fled to the jungle and began fighting the Viet Kong with a comparable degree of horror and ruthlessness. But to the American command, already mired in blindness and illusion, Kurtz was himself a revelation that they could not bear.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best American movies of last century
Review: Theres a lot going on in Apocalypse Now. On a purely "wow" level theres the Valkyrie-like helicopter attack, the terrifically scripted narration, great camera work, sound, production, acting etc etc. It's flawed but this is outweighed by excellent multi-level themes. At the first level theres the story of Captain Benjamin Willard. He's sent on a mission to kill a US Special Forces Colonel. The film is an account of the way this occurs. On another level its about Colonel Walter E. Kurtz and what made him disobey orders resulting in a death sentence being handed down without due process by US Army and intelligence community authorities. The plot is thick with intrigue before Willard even makes it out the door on his mission. Then theres the story of the men on the boat Willard uses as transport on his mission to find Kurtz. There just young men thrown into a situation like you or me. Lance, the surfer, chef, Mr.Clean, the kid from the Bronx and chief, the boat's skipper. Next theres the war itself and the public face of that war and its personification of American leadership values at the time in Colonel Kilgore, played brilliantly by Robert Duvall. Theres the VC or Viet Cong, a peasant army taking on a super power. With the VC is the jungle and the Americans landed there like aliens in Manhattan. This last story is the back drop for the whole film. Privately Willard is in turmoil. The opening sequence is really the conclusion of the story, hence 'The End' song by the Doors. Willard is tormented by the war, the killing he's had to do, the jungle, the phantom enemy of the VC growing stronger in the jungle, while he sits and waits for a mission in the hotel room, growing softer. Willard is at breaking point, his narrative through the film as he says himself is a confession. He's had enough of the war, as much as this one man can take. He's just trying to get through it. As such 'Apocalypse Now' does not need to be set in a war which America lost, though this is handy in working on the national guilt and moral ambiguity the war dragged American leadership values into. This is the significance of the film for righting the damage to American prestiege thirty years ago. A kind of re-birth. The moral quagmire which 'Apocalypse Now' superbly demonstrates is the crux of the book 'Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad from which the film is adapted. The process of being in such a quagmire, what this might feel like, the impact of it, are teased out by Francis Ford Coppola in his movie. As much as in the book the symbolism of the journey on a river to its source is brilliantly done on film. As a journey into a persons self to discover truth in what appears like a bottomless pit, is well parralleled in pictures, as it is in words. Both book and film are modern masterpieces.
Rating:
Summary: The greatest war film in history
Review: It puts "Full Metal Jacket" and "Platoon" in the shade. This is easily the best Vietnam film and the greatest war film ever. It topically transfers the setting of Joseph Conrad's epic novella "Heart of Darkness" from the Congo to Vietnam, although it leaves the story, themes and characters relatively intact. Marlon Brando offers an intimidating and overpowering performance. The impact he exerts in the film is profound, even though his face remains in shadow for the most of the duration of his appearance. A classic of the now outdated genre of Vietnam films.
Rating:
Summary: Flawed masterpiece
Review: Coppolla's epic is actually two films. The first part--about to the spot where the Sheen character first meets Brando as Kurtz--is an absolutely unforgettable piece of moviemaking. Coppolla at his most brilliant--the Vietnam War being a perfect metaphor for the journey into the heart of darkness. But the words "pretentious" and "muddled" aptly characterize the last fourth of the picture, although the first part is definitely worth repeated viewings. (Orson Welles originally intended to make an adaptation of "Heart of Darkness" as his first project in Hollywood).
Rating:
Summary: I forgot how weird...and good
Review: I forgot how weird and good this movie was unitl I purchased the DVD. More than a "war movie", Its still a great movie experience most of the time with outstanding photography. However, it really stretches at times and gets a little to far out there at the end.
Rating:
Summary: It will haunt you
Review: This was an amazing movie. I don't know where to start, it was so good. The photography, the acting, the lighting and the soundtrack to make this one of the freakiest movies ever. The music has no melodies, only undertones that add to the movie's weirdness. Every part of the movie fit together in a perfect sequence. This is definitely a masterpiece. Most Vietnam movie I've seen were depressing, and I hadn't heard much about this one before I saw it. I thought it was going to be depressing, but it turned out to be a movie that when you really think about it, it will blow your mind with it's freakiness and themes. Marting Sheen is excellent, with help from a particularly creepy performance by Marlon Brando. Watch this movie by yourself in a dimmed room for the best effect. You have to listen to everything. Every part of the movie is important; all the way down to those last two words that echo at the end.
Rating:
Summary: The Best War Movie Of All-Time!
Review: Francis Ford Coppola risked his career, his money and his sanity in making this Vietnam adaptation of 'Hearts Of Darkness'. The result is a large-scale war movie that ranks among the best movies of all-time. Martin Sheen has the role of a lifetime as Captain Willard, and he does deliver a credible performance. Marlon Brando is equally credible as the mysterious and possibly mad Colonel Kurtz. Robert Duvall creates a brilliant character; Colonel 'I love the smell of napalm in the morning' Kilgore. Grandly majestic war sequences are awe-inspiring. Thought provoking and filled with eerie chaotic imagery. Simply masterful filmmaking from Coppola. Extras: Laurence Fishburne and Harrison Ford in small roles, also spot Francis Ford Coppola in a cameo. From a scale of 1-10 I give this film a 10!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent transfer to DVD
Review: Who would dream that a movie more than 20 years old would transfer so spectacularly to DVD? Francis Ford Coppola had already solidified his place in movie history with The Godfather and its sequel, but here he put heart and soul into a film that has few peers. One of its more amazing aspects is that it can be picked up (on DVD) at many chapters and viewed as a set piece: The opening sequence, the air cavalry's bombing of the village, the USO show featuring the Playboy bunnies, the jungle sequence during the search for mangos, and many more. And the sound! My goodness, how could that have been achieved so brilliantly in 1979? This story set in Vietnam is most definitely surreal, and the climax will be discussed forever, much the same way people will forever discuss 2001 or, more recently, Being John Malkovich. But this is a must for any movie fan, and the DVD version is well worth the price. I wish there was an accompanying commentary, but anyone who has seen the documentary of the movie's filming, Hearts of Darkness, can understand that Coppola might not want to relive the filming. And anyone else's commentary would not work. Watch it with friends and provide your own commentary. It's the kind of film that invites such and makes it even more interesting.
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