Apocalypse Then was better

Rating: 7/10 (12 May 2008)

Coppola couldn't leave well enough alone. Redux adds an embarrassing scene where the Suzy-Q Playboy Bunnies sell their bodies for chopper fuel. There is also a long, boring episode at a French plantation where Sheen ends up sacking a Frenchwoman with an accent so thick that nary a word from her is comprehensible. Other scenes have also been expanded, making the film as bloated as Brando. However, the spectacular imagery remains intact, along with the soundtrack of classic 1960s songs and, in that rousing attack on the village, Wagner. Rather than improving the film, this overindulgent director's cut cancels out some of the positive qualities of the 1979 version, reducing the rating from 8 to 7.