Apocalypse Now Redux (2001, VHS)

I guess I'll have to confess to you all this... I still have not seen the original version of Apocalypse Now, but since I own the DVD for the Redux version, and that tells you what scenes are new, and which aren't, its looking to me as if the Redux version is more fun, more serious, more explaining, etc. I'm pretty sure that once I finally view the original, that I'll still prefer this version.

Anyway, about the title of this review... in the write previous to this, I talked of the apocalyptic events going on around the world right now, and I thought: what better of a time to do writes and reviews on apocalyptic things. And this film is one of them.

The title of Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece comes from later in the film, when "Our motto: Apocalypse Now!" is painted on a wall, but its hard to find, and most of us would think, judging by the early scenes of the film, that the title comes from the hell that Vietnam soldiers experienced, and that is probably more fitting.

After the title sequence, we meet the "hero" of the film, Captain Willard, played by Martin Sheen. But Coppola doesn't give Willard the heroic view most protagonists will get in films, and you can't love him like you can Samuel L. Jacksons character in Pulp Fiction, or Tobey McGuire when he played Spiderman. You hardly really even think about him, but you're not supposed to- Willard, and the rest of the film, all center around Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), and his mission to find and kill him.

When we meet Captain Willard, he is in Saigon, going on and on about how much he just wants to be in the jungle. Other films might make this boring, but the way he rambles is very interesting (in ways that I can't explain), and when you think of the dialogue, you can't help but crack a smile at the mysterious brilliance of it (I won't quote anything, because I don't want to ruin it for those who haven't viewed the film).

Willard finally gets a mission, and during a brief meeting with some military personnel, we find out what this mission is.

There is a man named Colonel Kurtz, who, as one of the military personnel would say, "is one of the finest officers this country (America) has ever produced." And he sure is. We learn more and more about the man through the meeting, and as Willard looks up more documents on him, but I'll leave those to the viewer.

Anyway, Kurtz has supposedly gone insane, killing many innocents, and having many Viets and a few Americans follow him as if he is a god. He enjoys it much. Willard's mission is to head up the river (the name of the river, I've forgotten), and to terminate Kurtz's command.

So, he's given a boat, and a few men to carry him up the river. They're quite interesting characters- there's Lance, the famous surfer, Chef, who wants to be a Chef, Clean, who is only 17, and then the ca[taom of the boat, whose name I can't remember.

They have quite an adventrous journey. First they arrive at the compound of Colonel Kilgore, played by Robert Duvall, who is perhaps the most quotable person in the history of war movies (you may have heard "I love the smell of napalm in the morning"). Kilgore flies them to the river, and after taking siege of a small Viet town, they take off.

After that, there's battles, run-ins with Playboy bunnies of the month, and several things that go very far to show the horrors of war. And people die.

That's just about the story- we meet Kurtz, eventually, and he's everything the film builds him up to be, much of his personality being explained by Willard, only making him even more interesting of a character. Once Willard meets Kurtz, he questions whether or not he should kill this man, and whether or not he does, you'll just have to see.

And this is one hell of a bad review. I apologize, kids. Bad reviews happen, you know.

Continuing... so that's the story. Now...

The scenery. Dating back from 1979, this is still perhaps the most beautiful, most satisfying visual film I've ever seen. Though the images it often shows us are grisly and violent, there's something absolutely beautiful about it, that I can't even begin to explain. The look is very saturated, and it sets the mood perfectly. Everything is seen just as it has to be seen. It's hard to explain... something you'll just have to see for yourself.

The dialogue for the film is great (the opening and closing words, especially), and the actors, Sheen and Brando in particular, deliver it very well. Sheen's voice-over for the film is extremely well-timed, and he's able to provide comic relief for the film better than all of the other characters (this must be the worst sentence I've ever written, here). Brando appears broken and frustrated with all that goes around him, and... wow. I think I'm running out of things that I could use to describe the greatness of the film. Yeah.

Apocalypse Now beat out Pulp Fiction as my favorite film, but I must admit I still question myself on that one sometimes, especially since Pulp Fiction was much better in terms of story and dialogue... but there's something about Apocalypse Now that really catches me, and I can't explain what it is.

Sorry for making this such a bad review.

Rating: A+