Rating: Summary: A Different Film Then The Original. But Not Better. Review: "Apocalypse Now" (1979) is about a U.S. solider on a mission to journey up river in a navy patrol boat and assassinate an army colonel who has gone insane and has isolated himself with a band of natives."Apocalypse Now: Redux" (2001) is about a U.S. solider on a mission and the adventures that happen on the way. When I watched Apocalypse Now for the first time it absolutley blew me away. Apocalypse Now is still one of my all time favorite movies. Apocalypse Now: Redux did not blow me away. It nearly made me fall asleep. The main problem is the two big scenes added into the film. The first being a second Playboy bunny scene where Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) agrees to exchange sexual favors for fuel. The second being a scene at a French rubber plantation where Captain Willard and the crew have dinner with a French family who have been living there for years. These scenes really slow down the movie and are not necessary to the overly flow of the film. Another problem is the characters. In the original version Captain Willard really seems like a man who determined to get where he needs to be and he's not gonna let anything stop him. In Redux there are scenes with him joking around with the crew. This really takes away from the character. Not making him the intense solider who won't let anything stand in his way. But just one of the boys. In the original Col. Bill Kilgore (Robert Duvall) is a completely intimidating and insane U.S. colonel. In Redux he's a lot more goofy. In fact bordering on ridiculous. Aside from the new scenes added there are a couple other differences in the original version. The first being the f'n tiger scene. In the original Chef (Frederick Forrest) is writing a letter to his wife back home. He then says he's gonna go get some mangos. Captain Willard tells him not to go in there (the forest) alone unless he knows the territory. Chef then gets up and leaves anyway and Willard follows. In Redux there's a scene where the crew steals Kilgore's surfboard. The crew is then in the boat by the forest and Kilgore (unseen) fly's over in a helicopter and begs for his board back. Chef then says he's gonna go get some mangos and The Chief says "have someone go with you" and Willard volunteers to go. Another difference is. The "Satisfaction" water skiing scene happens much later in the film. Apocalypse Now is one of the greatest films ever made. And in my opinion is Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece. Apocalypse Now Redux is essential viewing at least once for fans of the original. But if you've never seen either one. Watch the original first.
Rating: Summary: Fascinating. Disturbing. Very Long. Review: I love this movie. It's weird. It grabs the back of your brain and it won't let go. It has quite the same effect as Conrad's "Heart of Darkness". So to that end, Cappola brings a trip up the African Congo into the 20th century with a US Navy river boat in Viet Nam. The restored scenes add quite alot to the movie, but the price paid is in seat time. This is a l-o-n-g movie and not many people will sit through it. But, as "Gandi" and "Gone With the Wind" demonstrate, a good story takes time to tell.
Rating: Summary: A masterful adaption of a masterpiece Review: Apocalypse now is of course loosely based on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. The main twist is that this one is set in Vietnam not the congo river. However, don't be fooled. This movie is just as creepy as the book. Furthermore the dialogue is astounding and is very successful in exploring the atavistic tendancies of man that was a part of not only Conrad's work but the Vietnam War as well. Sheen puts in a great performance as do Harrison Ford and Dennis Hopper in supporting rolls.
Rating: Summary: See the Original First Review: Before i knew that the redux was to be released I saw the original Apocalypse Now and regretted not seeing the redux first instead. But after seeing the redux I was glad that I had seen the original first. The original is long enough as it is. The slower pace of the redux version, coupled with the longer play time, may turn hurt first time viewers opinion of the movie as it did for my friend. The redux is at least a must see for Apocalypse Now fans; I own it, but it is not for the first time viewer.
Rating: Summary: I love the smell of Redux in the morning... Review: Alright if your reading this you probally already know all about this movie and have probally already seen it, but you havn't seen it like this. DVD technology lives up to the hype (and even surpasses it) with this film. The colors are vivid the sound is amazing and feel is mindblowing. So what of the recut scenes? well some of them may seem slighty long and dragging, but in the end they add entire new dimensions to the questions of war and life this movie ingenuously raises.
Rating: Summary: Pretentious. Brave. Brilliant. Transcendent. Review: At first I was afraid to see the Redux version as I've become so used to the original. But as I read somewhere else, this version adds some 'yin to the original's yang'. That seems to sum it up. The edited version add some playfulness and some depth to the characters, especially Martin Sheen. Some of the scenes seem a bit superfluous and its clear why they were able to be edited out. The original stands on its own. Yet the scenes just released make the extremes even more dichotomized and the absurdity even more clear. Even in the midst of the added sex scenes and nudity the horror and atrocity of war is more noticeable. These scenes just become part of the mix. 'The horror', while a bit clichéd after all these years, becomes even more fitting. Definitely get the widescreen version and, if possible, go for the DVD. The additional sounds that come through are well worth the purchase. The movie becomes a bit too self absorbed and the Vietnam War becomes backdrop to a more grandiose philosophy but it works. The pretentiousness of the whole shebang and the over-the-top efforts seem to reflect reality and the entire movie seems to reflect in a microcosm just how mad this particular war, and any war for that matter, really can be.
Rating: Summary: Reediting a great can be a mistake!? Review: Ladies and gentlemen sometimes a great movie needs nothing more than a re-release. I think Disney did it right in the past when they re-release movies after 20+ years like they sis with fantasia. This movie never needed to be reedited. I do not know what is wrong with just digitising movies to fix color and sound and then just doing a re-release. It seems to me that the directors have a death wish on there hands and want so destroy there greatest works! From ET to Star Wars when will it end? Listen I am all for directors cuts and extended versions but those are done as part of the movie release to DVD or Tape and not years after production. Let the greats remain great and ACOCALYPSE NOW is best apreciated in it's origional form! The Great movies of all time are great becuse of origionality and beauty they have origionaly. Thank you!
Rating: Summary: Memories of Boyhood... Review: What's all this ranting & posturing about which is the better version? Is Godfather is a better flick than Apocalypse Now? Is Apocalypse Now 1 better or worse than Apocalypse Now 2? Boys like to pretend they're tough, so we've always loved to play Cops & Robbers or Cowboys & Indians. The Apocalypse Now & Godfather films are fabulously entertaining & well-made, but they're not really about warfare and they're not really about mobsters. They're about the fantasies guys hold dearly & desperately onto as our gender becomes extinct as the dinosaur. Apocalypse Now has a flaw that removes it from contention as a great film about war: the pseudo-analytical narration. Although written by the finest chronicler of Vietnam war events, Michael Herr, it's a weak device, one that works sometimes in coming-of-age novels, never in films. Maybe there's an opportunity for a 3rd version: Apocalypse Sans Voice-over.
Rating: Summary: The Music ! , It drives the natives nuts!! Review: An all star cast, I went to see this movie back in 1979 in 70mm. This movie has many one liners and of course the most famous is the ode to napalm " I love the smell of napalm in the morning " But my favorite " Do you want to fight or do want to surf?"And of course the music What a great use of!But the most interesting statement is "Every time I am in the jungle all I can think about is home, And when I am at home all I can think about is being back in the jungel And "charging a man for murder would be like handing out speeding tickets at the indy 500" This movie is very powerful way to describe war and the internal missions that are not talked about ! This movie is based on the Joseph Conrad book "Heart of Darkness" This movie is more mental than most war pictures that use action to keep the pace.But not needed here , Sure there is action but not like "Midway" The Horror! Enjoy!
Rating: Summary: MUST TO SEE. Review: It was good but it is even better now. Shocking, futuristic and realistic at the same time. Simply the best.
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