A good film that could have been better.

Rating: 7/10 (22 March 2000)

This film is one of the more disappointing "great" films I've yet to see. Don't get me wrong, I think this is a _good_ movie. The cinematography is excellent, I thought the Helicopter attack scene was magnificent, and the performances by Sheen, Duvall, and to an extent, Brando's as well, and I felt the pacing was great, if not just a bit slow, but was an excellent parallel to the nature of the war in Vietnam. For the first 3/4ths of the film, I thought this was a great movie...
And then I reached the ending. This ending was so drawn out and mind-numbingly slow that I couldn't wait for the film to wrap up. I heard that the reason behind this was that originally Brando's part was relatively short, but he wanted to get more screen time, so he stretched it out as far as humanly possible. It certainly seems to be the case. And as such, it is a detriment to what otherwise is a fantastic film.