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Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now

List Price: $29.95
Your Price: $23.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: No extras on "definitive" Redux version?!
Review: For starters, this DVD is transferred in a 2.0:1 aspect ratio anamorphic format, not the 2.35:1 listed on Amazon or the 1.85:1 mistakenly referred to by some reviewers. This is the ratio that cinematographer Vittorio Storaro and Coppola prefer for home theater.

For much of the film, the smaller ratio actually serves as an improvement, by increasing the visual impact of the scene on your home TV. But in some of the best scenes ever put to film -- such as the helicopter attack, the Napalm attack and the entrance into Kurtz's compound, you lose a little too much on the sides of the frame.

That said, I'm not disappointed. Why? Because whenever you view a movie at home instead of in a theater, you are making a compromise, especially with as big and as bold a movie as Apocalypse Now Redux.

Other than that controversial decision, the sound and video quality are superb. The colors are brighter than in the original, due to a Technicolor dye process added in the Redux version. The additional scenes are fascinating, and really fill out the story. (Most people don't like the French scene, because it does seem out of place, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.)

By the way, if you are one of those weirdo purists who doesn't like the extra scenes, fine. Stop whining about it and just hit the next button and skip the track.

The real travesty with this DVD edition, as you can tell from my title, is the almost total lack of extras. This is a completely barebones disc, with the exception of the trailer (shown in 2.35:1). If ever there was a movie lending itself to another disc or two full of extras, this is it. Heck, there is even a documentary made about this movie! (Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, by Coppola's wife). But do we get it here? No. In fact, it's not yet available on DVD at all.

...

So, to sum up, this is a great DVD of one of the all-time great movies. But, "definitive" it's not. We'll probably have to wait for the High Def DVD version in 10 years for that.

Enjoy!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: the single greatest film of all time!
Review: Before I had even finished watching Apocalypse Now for the first time, I new that I was having the greatest film watching experiance of my entire life. I would do almost anything to see the movie again for the first time.

I didn't mearly watch Apocalypse Now, I experianced it as if I was inside the world of the film. I have never felt so emmersed in a movie. I absolutely love everythig about the movie: the story, characters, music, cinematography, etc.

Apocalyse Now is surreal, and the haunting music has alot to do with that. When you finish it, you almost feel as though you had fallen alseep and had a nightmare . When I think back on the movie, I remember it as if it was one of my own dreams.

Eveybody who takes movies seriously must see this film. I can't say that everyone will fall in love with it as I have, but I don't see how anyone could not enjoy it. yes, it's 3 hours long... I wish it had been 6.

I can honestly say that I will never forget the experiance of sitting in my dark living room by myself, late at night, and experiancing Apocalypse Now for the first time. I hope eveyone will one day have a similar experiance.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I wanted to turn this disc into a coaster...
Review: It may be a classic to many people, but only sheer will and determination allowed me to sit through it. It was horrible. It was long, boring, and pointless. The director intended this film to showcase the different facets of war and the madness that it brings to some people. I should've known the madness was intended for his audience.

The story is about Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) on a mission to find and execute the highly decorated and brilliant renegade Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), who has turned mad (undoubtedly because of war).

Please don't waste 3 hours of your life watching this movie.

LEAP rating (each out of 5):
============================
L (Language) - 3 (writers get all philosophical and artsy with Brando's lines)
E (Erotica) - 0 (n/a)
A (Action) - 2 (doesn't force you to the edge of your seats, that's for sure)
P (Plot) - 1 (Sheen is sent into Cambodia to hunt down Brando, plain and simple)

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The only Apocalype here is Coopola's Ego.
Review: After making one of the best movies in cinema history ('The Conversation'), Coopola tried to make his version of 'Heart of Darkness, sending the story of Vietnam. I don't know what the director thought he was doing, but this movie is a long journey into nowhere. What the heck is that final scene supposed to mean, with Brando and the buffalo being slaughthered together?
All I can say is, there was an Apocalype...And it was Coopola's ego.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: They Don't Make Em Like This Anymore!!
Review: In this most sad of year's for movie going, the best film I saw was the re-release of Apocolypse Now . This is simply a masterpiece that must be experienced by all true movie lover's. Today's director's, like Ron Howard, should take a page from coppola's book and challenge them-selve's to make film's with the power and in-sight of this movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Visually incredible, incredible sound, incredible acting
Review: I thought this film to be the finest work from Coppolla ever. From the very beginning with Sheen's husky intro and the Doors playing in with the napalm horizon to his whacked out dance and fantastic fan edit, to the very end, I loved this film.
I can understand people's problems with historical inaccuraces but didn't care; so what, it's a work of fiction. Embracing the horror, saying that one has to be insane to do such as everything we learn in normal society is completely truned around...self pretentious? So what. I thought that everything about this film was damned close to flawless. As for those that were dissappointed with the end, I MUST disagree. To see the whites of Sheen's eyes come through in the amazing sunset, to Brando's dying words, the doors again playing in the background, down to when Sheen sticks his head out of the water, it's perfect. I think that many find parts of the film difficult to interpret and therefore it often gets a bad rap. If you're looking for a great war moive get De Palma's 'Casualties Of War'. If you want a truely original, astounding cinematic experience, get Apocalypse Now. It's a traversty that it didn't win more awards, maybe on the second time round.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Dark, surreal, moody, masterpiece...
Review: Yes, this Coppola production is not flawless, but it is wildly entertaining with an emphasis more on the stoned out war than the Vietnam reality war. In any case, the acting is very entertaining and top-billed Brando isn't in it much, but that only adds to the many brilliant touches that Coppola has added to this disturbing (and somewhat inaccurate) classic. Rated R for violence and profanity (with some animal slayings).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An awsome war flim. To weird for some.
Review: I know some people who have told me befor they didn't care for the end hunting end of this movie, and even through this is one of my all time faveroit war movies I can still see were they are coming from.

Apocalypse Now is the kind of movie that makes you want to see it over in case you mist something the first time around. Martin Sheen and the legandary Brando create timeless perfomances, and in my mind Frnces Ford Coppalla has created a better naritive drive than in the Godfather, but (I'm sure their some out there that will disagree with that Godfather statment)

em-m-m-m-m 6 stars actully!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Worth the Time and the Money
Review: Why should anyone buy APOCALYPSE NOW REDUX and not APOCALYPSE NOW? At first this re-release seemed an indulgence, but, don't be fooled, these are really two different movies. I did not like the original cut, but APOCALYPSE NOW REDUX is one of the best films ever made, and the best movie about Vietnam.

The original, because the French Plantation scene was cut, lacked an intellectual edge. The dialogue in that scene alone repays the time spent viewing the film. But restoration also makes the film flow. In the original, the final scenes with Kurtz almost seemed anti-climactic. But this one scene is like a psychic recharge and an intermission for the viewer, too, that punctuates the final scenes.

Also, restoring Brando's adlibs, reading TIME magazine clippings and seeing him interacting with the children gives his character substance and also gives the film more intellectual bite. Without the restored scenes, the movie is more a film version of Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", but with them, it is an opinion about the American experience in Vietnam.

The restored scenes in the evac hospital and the stealing of the surfboard introduce comedy into the film and inciteful commentary on women and what war does to a person's psyche.

But, the second DVD is a waste of viewing time. The documentary about the filming of the movie would have been a much better addition. The second DVD duplicates the restored scenes and includes the technical aspects of the film usually tacked on to the DVD.

When I watched this movie in the theater, a Korean monk was in the audience. I know Korean monks are encouraged to get close to the public to experience the world, but I wondered what he thought about this film, which he watched in calm silence. After I finished watching, I realized the film was more spiritual with the restored scenes included. Innocence is never so precious as the moment when you realize you have lost it. Everyone should experience this film.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The slaughtered buffalo was real. Otherwise, great movie.
Review: Incredible movie, excellent cinematography, music, acting, plot, adaptation, etc. etc. But everyone can tell you that.

What kept this movie from being the all-time favorite 20th century work of art for me was that scene where they hack the buffalo to bits; it was a real performance--and the last for that poor buffalo!

This movie--for those of you paying attention--was about the brutality of 'necessary evil' (i.e. war) BUT also the ultimate transcendence above all that. When Charlie Sheen throws down his machete at the end, and all the tribespeople do likewise, and Charlie rips out his radio without calling in the airstrike (ignoring Kurtz's last wishes), I took that as an indication that Francis Ford Coppola's message was essentially: "What is cruel and necessary is NOT necessarily so." Ironic that he would then hack up an animal in the name of drama essential to the plot.

Just my take. P.S. Don't believe the F.F.C. interviews where he says they just happened to catch the ritual on film. F.F.C. is an excellent producer/writer/director ...but a terrible liar!

Am I the only one who got this out of the movie? I'm not a buffalo-lover; I just like consistency of philosophy.

Minor point, really. This movie is truly a masterpiece, and I only gave it one star because I wanted to get your attention. Minor point (to everyone but the buffalo)!


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