This Is The End...

Rating: 8/10 (30 August 2013)

Francis Ford Coppola directs this fascinating but very strange, unique film about Army Captain Willard(Martin Sheen, fine shell-shocked performance) who is sent "Up River" on a secret mission to assassinate renegade Col. Kurtz(Marlon Brando, bizarre but unforgettable performance) who has apparently gone insane, abandoned his command, and now rules over a primitive people in the remote jungles of Vietnam.
Story is far more involved than that though, especially in the expanded directors cut that is much longer, but also fascinating. Willard encounters many strange sights and people(even among his own crew) as he tries to make sense out of the enveloping madness of this war, and his own inner demons.
Film is a visual marvel, and holds your attention as it unfolds its increasingly philosophical, even existentialist narrative. May take multiple viewings to fully comprehend, but is worth it.