Nice atmosphere but the pay off for Kurtz is kind of a let down

Rating: 9/10 (21 March 2008)

Apocalypse Now is a great film, one that doesn't follow the clichés of all too many war films and turns the war into a mental struggle. Instead of being offered the same war is hell or the large scale battle scenes of other war films, Apocalypse Now chooses to tell another story. The story told here is how the inner demons of men can come out during war.
The Vietnam War is different in the fact that there was no true clear cut enemy. The enemy was the jungle and what could come out of it, be it a child or a woman armed with a weapon. Apocalypse Now uses this very effectively. Willard isn't sure who the enemy is anymore and he can't believe he is being sent to kill a decorated hero who on paper he respects. Kurtz is driven mad by this. He was taught to fight in a war which had honor, and this new war makes him question how war is meant to be fought.
Brando was easily one of the all time greats, a master of acting. Apocalypse Now's plot and mental reasoning is constructed to the point where Brando is essentially the heart and soul of the film with only fifteen or so minutes of actual screen time. Sadly Ol' Marlon's heart isn't in the right place. In Apocalypse Now I can actually see the Brando we heard about, the difficult actor who could wrap the director around his finger. Brando's performance in Apocalypse Now is the center of much debate, some find the performance masterful others laugh at it, I found myself in the middle.
Martin Sheen is an underrated actor, many place him to the side a lot of the times in supporting roles but he carries this picture effectively. Essentially the film isn't the Vietnam War, we don't spend a lot of screen time on the battlefield but we do get the feeling that the jungle is hell, largely thanks to Sheen. The war in Apocalypse Now is largely a mental one, and how Willard and Kurtz have dealt with their shell shock and morality due to the war. Coppola has probably created the largest scale psychological thriller of all time.
I loved the fact that since Coppola is adapting Heart of Darkness, the journey down the river symbolizes many different things. Not unlike the other adaptations or interpretations of the story, the journey symbolizes a descent into madness or hell if you will.
The war is chronicled very well, the visuals and settings are amazing. I felt that the backgrounds here capture the state of fear that these men faced. The cinematography effectively creates a larger than life setting.
Francis Ford Coppola does some of his finest work here simply because the main character is good and is in a really believable struggle unlike some of the beyond belief story lines in every Coppola film after Godfather II.
Brando is the flaw that keeps this film from being another Coppola masterpiece. I just found that he was too over-dramatic in his readings. Coppola effectively compensates for some of this by leaving Brando in the dark and creating more mystery to him. You don't get a good look at him throughout the original cut, the only shot of Kurtz in daylight is in the Redux edition of the film.