It smells like a nightmare! But it is just napalm in the morning.

Rating: 8/10 (28 July 2002)

APOCALYPSE NOW REDUX(2001)features forty-nine minutes added to Francis Ford Coppola's surreal Vietnam epic. A dillusional, but loyal and steadfast Capt. Willard(Martin Sheen)accepts a classified mission to terminate Col. Walter Kurtz(Marlon Brando), who is a loose cannon that has strayed from the program. Kurtz is not of sound mind or deed and has crossed over into Cambodia where he reigns God-like over a renegade outpost. Coppola succeeds in presenting his highly ambitious depiction of the disturbing horrors of war. Not only are Brando and Sheen excellent; Robert Duvall is in top form in his short screen time. Other notable cast members are: Frederic Forrest and Dennis Hopper. Scott Glenn, G.D. Spradlin, Harrison Ford and R. Lee Ermey all have minor roles. Sam Bottoms and a young Laurence Fishburne are cardboard and pedestrian. Carmine and Francis Coppola are responsible for the majority of the brilliantly eerie soundtrack that also features The Doors and Flash Cadillac. I can't really explain how the best can actually get better; but you owe it to yourself to see the expanded version of this masterpiece.