Rating: 
Summary: Better, but still a very cold trip
Review: I saw Apocalypse Now when it came out, when I was 18, and found it wild and interesting. The new redux version is a bit better, and most importantly has a better ending, which ties the movie together and gives it more meaning.The movie is intentionally strange, but it takes you on a very cold trip. You can't really sympathize with anyone, nor with their situation. Even the horror scenes, in which Vietnamese are abused, seem cartoony -- horrible in theory, but very cold to watch. Hollywood has borrowed so much from this film, that it seems innovative in places and cliche in others. And, unfortunately, it doesn't have the real texture of a movie like Altman's MASH. A texture which would have made it less dated -- it doesn't seem to have a very good sense of its own time. The battle scenes don't look very real -- they could have been just as dramatically effective in a quiet room with a black backdrop. Actually, overall, it seems too much like a play -- too staged, too well-edited and too well-shot to be a hallucination. It's hard for me to say "it's bad". But it's hard for me to say "it's good". Watch it and see for yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: posibly the worst movie ever
Review: maybe i'm just too stupid to understand it, but this movie is even more boring than About Schmidt is. i mean, it shows horrors of the war but not much more. not even worth reviewing. the only good thing is, i didn't buy the dvd i rented it.
Rating: 
Summary: Well made but too much
Review: This film appeard to me that it was just written by a person that did not like Viet Nam and just wanted to make it look as bad as possible. As they travel down the river there is one chance after another to do that. Most of it I just found wierd. The acting and screenplay was absolutely superb but nonetheless I just did not connect with anyone in the film. Sorry to those die-hard that find this movie one of the greatest ever.
Rating: 
Summary: Previous Version 2 stars.
Review: The first version of this film was an empty experience with explosions that everyone loved. This is the real deal retaining the visceral, narcototropic ethos of unbearable impending doom but adding a 'quieter' layer of allegorical weight which the first edit lacked. Now a true journey into the "heart of darkness", with more echoes from that seminal text. Brilliant now, middling before.
Rating: 
Summary: excellent, the real version is here
Review: Validates the whole idea of DVD, as the true expression of the Director's vision. The added footage further explains the idea of the American mistake, as we see the French plantation and it's lost inhabitants, almost hazy and shimmery in the jungle. I still think that Sheen is unconvincing as a commando, he looks ragged and unhealthy, and devoid of any muscle mass. perhaps his willingness to do the dirty work made him the candidate, as far as the generals were concerned. The movie itself has an ending that is a bit flaky, reminiscent of tying up loose ends, but it does not detract too much from the scene-that of a lost group of Americans, who find themselves in the nightmare of a lifetime, doing the best job they can.
Rating:
Summary: ...Why?
Review: "The horror" is why they made this movie longer. Besides some interesting parts that made it more of a feel like they were actually in Vietnam (like the French settlement the main characters run across) its just more long, drawn out sequences. "Apocalypse Now" could have done well as a TV series. Instead they try to pack a lot into movie time. It just doesn't work.
Rating:
Summary: "The Horror.... The Horror...."
Review: Apocalypse Now is essentially a film about a soldier/assassin Captain Willard who is sent by the CIA and the US military (Harrison Ford has a brief appearance as the military operations manager) on a top secret "black op" to terminate the command of a Colonel Kurtz, a high ranking official, who has gone AWOL and started a cult in Cambodia right smack in the middle of the Vietnam war. Martin Sheen plays the assassin who is given the assignment and Marlin Brando is in the role of the AWOL Kurtz. The film begins with a napalm scene inter-cut with haunting imagery to the theme-tune of the "The End" by The Doors and is pretty much a prelude of what is come. Willard undertakes his journey by boat with a four-man crew (Frederic Forrest, Albert Hall, Sam Bottoms and a very young Laurence Fishburne) up a river, past the jungle and into Cambodia to reach his target. The crew are not aware of what exactly their mission entails but they tag along for the adventure - and most of them act just like the Vietnam war is one big adventure. Overall this is an excellent piece of cinema and must be seen in widescreen to enjoy the rich imagery and the full scope of the production and presentation. Basically the film is about a number of "incidents" that occur during this mission to Cambodia along the river at various stop points. These interludes include: - a war machine run by Lt. Col. William 'Bill' Kilgore (Robert Duvall) who has traded in his ships for over a dozen squads of helicopters so that he can go "looking for the sh*t". His character is very memorable and the fight scenes are shockingly realistic including a very real napalm strike on a huge forest. He is also a little crazy and demands that his soldiers go surfing in the middle of a blitz - "If I say its safe to surf this beach Captain, then its safe to surf this beach!" - there is also a playboy show that gets a little out of hand - a visit to a predominantly black soldier battle zone that looks like the worst hell hole in Vietnam - a chance meeting with a colony and a very strange formal dinner - an encounter with a tiger and dangerous tribal locals, before finally reaching their destination which was the core reason why they undertook the mission in the first place. Kurtz mostly lurks in the shadows among his cult, whispering prophecies and describing his new founded command and his worshippers as beyond American military understanding. It is a huge performance from Brando that is both haunting and soul searching. There also is an outstanding performance by Denis Hopper, a photojournalist who is with the cult and babbles on about how "God-like" this Kurtz character is. The movie is loosely based on the book "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad and is an essential film for anyone's collection. The REDUX version features previously cut footage but doesn't really add or subtract much from the film. I have enjoyed both versions and will stick with the REDUX version since this is what the film director, Francis Ford Coppola, wanted us to see. There is a lot of realism in the film that comes from a shoot that had tremendous problems along the way including sets that where swept away in floods and Martin Sheen having an heart attack in the process from all the work stress. If you can get your hands on the documentary making of this film "Hearts of Darkness" then do so because it is one of the best documentaries about filmmaking ever made. There is even a still photograph showing Coppola with a gun pointed to his own head. He threatened to commit suicide for real numerous times throughout the shoot. This is probably the best Vietnam war movie but it is a lot more than just that. You will hard pressed to find anything quite like it. A modern masterpiece of epic proportions. Films just don't get much better than Apocalypse Now.
Rating:
Summary: "Redux" interesting for fans of original, but not better
Review: I agree with the majority that the added complete scenes to the original "Apocalypse Now" to make "Redux" detract from the original movie and tight screenplay by John ("Red Dawn") Milius. "Redux" is principally of interest to people like me, who believe that the original "Apocalypse" is the best Vietnam War movie ever made,and are just interested to see what wound up on the cutting floor. I would not recommend it to anyone (if there is anyone alive) who has not see the original version. The restored scenes disrupt the continuity of the movie and the consistency of Martin Sheen's character, Captain Willard, which in the original movie is a bug-eyed killer of few emotions. "Redux" includes a side to Willard as practical joker (stealing Robert Duvall's surfboard), joking with the crew of the small PT boat, and even a rendevous with a mysterious Frenchwoman inhabiting a plantation of leftover veterans of the First Indochina war. This was intended to add a historical element but is merely tedious. This, and the much-commented upon Playboy Bunny rescue scene, are simply not essential to the core plot. The best addition to "Redux" is we get to see more of Brando's topical ranting toward the end of the film. I doubt this is a big selling point for most people. The Playmate scene added to "Redux" boost the original film's low "R" for gore to a high "R." Young teens can watch the original, but not "Redux."
Rating:
Summary: Mix feelings about this version
Review: Alright. One of the best films ever. My personal favorite Coppola film. But the new Redux version has scenes in it that drag and scenes I love. For example. In the original the last thing you hear from Colonel Kilgore is the legendary "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" speech. It leaves such an impression on you and it's a great way to end the scene. In Redux it goes on with Kilgore realizing that the napalm was blowing the wind off shore thus not giving Lance good surfing waves. Anyway it ends up with Willard stealing Kilgore's surfboard. It a hilarious scene and it lets you see Willard being at ease with those around him. You actually see him smile unlike in the original. So either way on that scene. Anyway here's a question for those who go on about the French Plantation sequence. Remember the Sampan massacre. Willard was so set on getting to Kurtz that he murders a Vietnamese woman. "I told you not to stop. Now let's go" he tells chief. Well if he killed someone so he could get on with his mission. Why was it okay to stop and have dinner with the French?
Rating:
Summary: the obvious
Review: "Apocalypse Now" is simply and straight to the story a making of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness." Everything is exactly the same. I recomend you read the novel, and thus you will have a deeper regard for the movie rendition.
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