See the original for a great movie

Rating: 10/10 (13 November 2001)

I won't add to the accolades already given this movie; it's one of the great movies and one of the few to be rightfully regarded as a masterpiece of the medium. I just saw the _Redux_ version in theaters, and it held up even with the basically superfluous footage.
A note about _Redux_: the added scenes should have been relegated to a "bonus materials" section of a home video/DVD release. For THAT purpose, it's worth seeing and having and should be included that way in future video/DVD released, but it's almost all inessential to the movie, sidetracking the story and getting boiled down in lots of things that blow certain aspects of the film out of proportion (particularly but limited to Kilgore's obsession with surfing). One new scene has Fishburne going on for a few minutes in the nature of everyday banter about something I can't even remember, as it had virtually no discernable point or function to play in the plot.
Coppola was in his right mind as director 20 years ago, knowing what to leave out, and using them as bonus material on DVD would give the viewers a good way of knowing just WHY they were eventually deleted from the original. I'm unsure whether to buy the original version on DVD now, or wait with hopes that a future-released version would do it right by including the new scenes but at least giving the viewer the option to view the film in its original form -- either by putting it in a bonus section or containing both versions. One thing's for sure: I'll just buy the original-version DVD even on secondary market if a future-release version doesn't do it right.
Oh, by the way -- this movie is good. A Must See. Didn't strike home in every way with me personally, but I still give it a 9/10 on the cinematic achievements of the film alone. (That still puts it in or close to my personal top 25.) Even the _Redux_ version is a must-see if you haven't caught it on the big screen yet, which I was fortunate to be able to do upon the re-release.