A Phenomenal Achievement. Coppola Outdoes Himself!

Rating: 10/10 (10 December 2014)

In high school, I had to read Heart of Darkness. Although it was a good book, I did not understand any of it so my teacher had to explain everything. It was a harder read than a Shakespeare play. Apocalypse Now is a loose adaptation that surpasses the book. A few years after Coppola does the best movies ever--The Godfather Part 1 & 2--he directs arguably the best war movie ever made. Apocalypse Now is inferior to The Godfather movies, but is a much better piece of film. This was ten times harder to do than Coppola's other flicks.
I think Schindler's List is the best movie ever made about war. But it is not a straight-up war movie like this. As a straight-up war movie, this is the best. Saving Private Ryan is pretty close. But Apocalypse Now has a different kind of approach. Spielberg tried to make Saving Private Ryan to look like actual footage. Coppola tried to make Apocalypse Now look real too, but make the look more revolutionary and usable in every kind of film. Another thing that sets this apart is the weirdness that Coppola incorporates, used from the story. Martin Sheen (in an underrated performance) plays a soldier who seeks out Colonel Kurtz, played by Marlon Brando. Along the way, he encounters many odd tribes and rituals. When he gets to Kurtz's kingdom, the weirdness reaches an all-time high and the result of his stay changes him forever. Coppola creates some odd tribes that is genius for movies. The general filming with stuff like cinematography is revolutionary and mind-blowing. Coppola never did better than this and very few directors have done better than this.
Apocalypse Now is a story about how war can change people and does the best job in showing how and why.
4/4