'Hearts of Darkness' flipped

Rating: 9/10 (18 May 2004)

Whether you're viewing the original version of Coppola's Apocalypse Now', or the Redux version (which restored an hour of deleted footage from the 1979 release), there are certain things you remember: the mad colonel shrouded in shadow (Marlon Brando in perhaps his last great movie role); the showy performances of the actors travelling through Vietnam (Harrison Ford, Dennis Hopper, and especially, Martin Sheen as Willard  who replaced Harvey Keitel in the role and probably did it much better than he would have done); and the music  not only Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries, but also one of the most effective uses of a single song (in this case, The End', by The Doors, which is just perfect).
There are other images, too, of the war-torn province, the soldiers coming to terms with the ripping open of their souls  this is a war movie, pure and simple, yet there is much more going on here than is instantly apparent. Much better than Platoon' or The Deer Hunter', perhaps because it takes more risks and ultimately has a more lasting point to make?