War, insanity, and lackluster acting

Rating: 6/10 (17 December 2015)

Apocalypse Now is a movie meant to mess with your head. It succeeds in that for better or for worse. The best part of Apocalypse Now is the way it portrays its atmosphere. It shows the brutality of the Vietnam war. It shows the crazy culture of certain parts of Cambodia. The twisted natives are terrifying. The journalist gone mad shocks you. The flaws of this movie lies in its actors. Nearly all of the actors give just an acceptable performance. No performances stand out as impressive. The characters are just plot pieces fulfilling certain tasks to drive the plot. Martin Sheen doesn't communicate the degeneration of his mind, his environment does. This film would have been greatly enhanced by a performance showing Willard going mad instead of it just being told to you at the last minute.