A classic piece of American Cimema

Rating: Null/10 (30 August 2001)

With the restored version of Apocalypse Now:Redux now being reissued back into theatres,this was in my opinion the last great piece of American cimema in existence today. However, Francis Ford Coppula's Vietnam-set adaption of Joesph Conrad's novel "Heart of Darkness" returns bearing nearly 50 minutes that was unseen in the original 1979 version. Though Coppula has called this version of it definitive because it is more accurately seen as a very interesting alternate version that lacks the sharp asthetic focus of the superior earlier cut(although its original running time was at 153 mins,this one is more outgoing at over three hours in length). Among the newly seen sequences which include the fascinating 25 minute "French Plantation scene" seems to radiate the right-wing views of primary screenwriter John Milius. Whatever you make of these and other revelations about what you may think about it,the film itself remains a one-of-a-kind marvel that's easily impressive today as it was two decades ago. Aside from the narcissism of Marlon Brando's climax-destroying performance, Coppula was blessed in having collaborators as brilliant as cimematopgrapher Vittorio Storaro,production designer Dean Tavoularis, sound designer Walter Murch,along with actors Martin Sheen,Harrison Ford,Fredrick Forrest, Robert Duvall,Lawrence Fishburne,and Dennis Hopper as well as Sam Bottoms. A classic piece of American cimema that needs to be seen again that goes beyond the horrowing cruelties of war.