Misleading, but rewarding

Rating: Null/10 (1 May 2001)

Widely regarded as a great or horrible telling of the Vietnam War, it's Coppola's misleading description that may throw viewers for curve. He hailed at as one of the most accurate depictions of the Vietnam war. Watching it, one might scoff at the larger than life characters of Kurtz or Kilgore. What people miss, however, is that this goes far beyond being a war movie, due in part to the book it was based on. This is a journey into the darker regions of the soul - to the heart of darkness. Coppola skillfully lays this "map" down by characters such as Duvall's Kilgore character, who states that the war will end someday, mirroring it to Dennis Hopper's character, who in turn states the world was going to end, which proceeds to a cinematic ending depicting the full journey to a heart of darkness. Not a great movie if your trying to do a thesis on the horrors of Vietnam, but more interesting if your wanting to explore the darker depths of the human heart. Coppola creates not only a cinematic, but in many respects, a literary masterpiece. Apocalypse now is layered with great writing, and direction, allowing this to be viewed as a work of art and not only as a "movie."