I wanted a mission, and for my sins, they gave me one.

Rating: 9/10 (13 July 2001)

And what a mission it is! Apocalypse Now is actually a long mission as movies go, at over 2 1/2 hours. I know that many people I've talked to complain about this more than most other negative aspects of the film, and I will admit that it gets slow in places. But in my opinion, it's well worth the time spent, and the movie remains one of my favorites of all-time.
Based on the story "Heart of Darkness," by Joseph Conrad, Apocalypse Now takes place not in the jungles of Africa, but rather the jungles of Vietnam, during the war. It takes us on the physical and spiritual journey of Captain Benjamin Willard, US Army, through Vietnam "up a river that snaked through the war like a main circuit cable," on his mission to seek out and terminate Colonel Walter E. Kurtz, a renegade American soldier whose methods of engaging the enemy have become "unsound." Along the way, we witness the everyday, almost casual, insanity of the Vietnam War through many different situations, as all the while Willard tries to understand his place in the whole state of affairs, and the man he is supposed to kill. The culmination of events leads to the final showdown between Willard and Kurtz, not in typical Hollywood fashion, but as two men weary of the absurdity, hypocrisy, and lies that have beleaguered them through their many years spent in this Conflict.
While Apocalypse now is more of a cerebral movie, the cinematography and sound score are absolutely phenomenal! Coppola manages to capture the horror and fear of every segment with his combination of eerie music and vivid camera shots. I've rarely seen a movie with such complementary sound and vision.
Coupled with that, the character development and presentation are first rate. The characters do a great job of depicting life in this almost unreal environment, where the landscape is beautiful, and yet people are dying or being horribly injured all the time. Coppola sets a bizarrely believable stage; it seems all madness, and yet why wouldn't it after being exposed to such extreme circumstances every day, where life has so little value? And yet, overshadowing all of the everyday madness is the madness of the mission that Willard is sent on, and of those who sent him. The masters of madness are those who pull the strings.
Apocalypse Now is a remarkable account of the evils that can beset and wreak havoc upon the human heart and soul. That theme is solidly reinforced on many interacting levels of complexity, expertly woven together. It's one of the few movies I've seen that makes such a credible parallel to the book upon which it is based. I give it 9 out of 10 stars.