The Best Thing About Redux

Rating: 8/10 (2 November 2006)

The best thing about Redux is the color restoration and clarity. In the old version, you could hardly read the red letters below the crossed swords of the Cavalry, but now it stands out in perfect clarity, "Death from Above."
Many comments can and have been made about the content of this version, but overall I feel it was Coppola's intent to make a classic in the vein of "Gone with the Wind," which I believe he succeeded at. While perhaps rightfully subject to some criticism about the storyline and editing which others have pointed out, I feel that overall, this version will insure Coppola's place as a producer of another classic. I have watched this film since it first came out on videotape, the first copy from about 1982 at a cost of $92. Even with the inherent poor quality of tape and the what must have been poor transfer of the original version, I have enjoyed watching this film many times.
I too have watched "Heart of Darkness" and "The Search for Colonel Kurtz," a film made by a television channel, and I find the story compelling. Change the topography and the jungle to sand and the story is just as valid today or indeed in any time. I feel sure that in time, some writer will find a way to remake this film as the story is timeless. Yes, I am and always have been a great fan of this film. It may have its foibles but I can enjoy the bad with the good nonetheless.