A 'road movie' war film that incorporates just about everything you'd want in both genres and much more.

Rating: 10/10 (22 August 2007)

Apocalypse Now is a great film full of great things. People compare it to Saving Private Ryan as the best war film of all time and although I probably prefer Saving Private Ryan, Apocalypse Now is still up there amongst it. A reoccurring quote from Apocalypse Now towards its dramatic concluding twenty minutes is 'the horror' and what a great thematic quote to use, not only as the film's tagline but also as a statement to sum up what goes on in Apocalypse Now and to sum up the Vietnam War in general. Apocalypse Now has a theme already and thus; scores points with me before it's even begun.
Apocalypse Now is just full of the basics done brilliantly. The cinematography, the mise-en-scene, the atmosphere, the voiceovers powered by the screenplay  they all combine in pretty much every scene and deliver on such a level, it's so very difficult not to like. It truly sucks you into the film and into Vietnam. What the backbone of Apocalypse Now is that makes it so great is that its story is that of a single line journey; Apocalypse Now is a war based 'road movie' since it takes place down one stretch of track (a river) and involves the protagonist Benjamin Willard (Sheen) and his 'crew' getting into all sorts of conflict and adventures which is something that these sorts of films have that I just love.
When people think of Vietnam films, they think of the jungle and jungle warfare. Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July and We Were Soldiers are all acclaimed in their own right but Apocalypse Now moves away from the jungle in a way that feels so refreshing and new, it makes for fantastic viewing. There is so much to read out of this film, it's incredible. The first 'taste' of warfare we get is presented to us much like it is in Saving Private Ryan although it doesn't come as soon: it's presented in a state of absolute chaos. We have several choppers flying along, music blaring out, cut to the village they're about to attack: calm and peaceful until the American's arrive: more chaos, shouting, gunfire, orders being passed down, destroyed buildings bridges and cars as well as distressed villagers. What makes them even greater then what they actually start out as is when the American's actually start to struggle in their fight as a chopper is destroyed and someone is brutally injured in the fire fight. Epic, truly epic and a fantastic introduction to the warfare to expect.
The journey not only of discovery but of self discovery Willard undergoes in fascinating in its own right. The numerous incidences involving things like: the supply boat they search, the bridge checkpoint they reach and the trench encounter as well as the ambush from the jungle they suffer and the scene after that when someone is lying there dead whilst a tape from home plays over a shot of their corpse  it's all ingenious film-making. One such scene I loved was following the girlie show the Americans have that descends into chaos, Willard states that the Vietcong's idea of nightly entertainment probably consists of 'a bowl of rice and something nice and simple'. I feel this is a statement of how something that should have gone so straightforward (a girlie show and the winning of the Vietnam war) can quickly get really out of hand and thus, turn into a mess.
If there is a criticism, then it occurs during the final act of Apocalypse Now. The film goes from a war film with a mission and a plan to a much darker, more disturbing display of a character gone mad (Kurtz  Brando) in a dystopia full of strange characters, disorientating settings and a cow getting hacked up but this is in no way a major criticism. The film does slow down slightly when Willard is caged and spoken to through the character of a photojournalist (Hopper) and Kurtz just seems to be on the brink of a philosophical breakthrough one minute but spouting rubbish the next in almost all of his scenes. The payoff, however, as the mission reaches its climax is superb.
There's no doubt that I really enjoyed Apocalypse Now and although Kramer vs. Kramer is still great; how this and Saving Private Ryan lost out on the best picture awards in their respective years is still beyond me.