Don't let people tell you this isn't about the Vietnam War - it's that and much more

Rating: 9/10 (31 July 2019)

To the people who gave 1/10, let me try and explain why this movie is widely described with superlatives such as seminal and masterpiece.
Like the Stone's Exile on Main St, this film is layered. I've been listening to Exile for 30 years and its layering allows me to listen to different perspectives which stop the record from getting boring. Apocalypse has a similar quality. I first watched it maybe when I was about 18 (late 80s). At the time I didn't get it. I thought it was okay, albeit a bit overrated and perhaps past it's time. In my late 20s I found myself trawling a video library for something to watch. I'd pretty much seen everything so gave Apocalypse another go. The difference that time around was I thought about the movie for days after I had watched it. I watched the movie for the 4th time two days ago (40th anniversary edition). It just gets better every time you watch it. That is rare in a movie. Two days later, I'm not only thinking about it but writing about it.
To those who say this movie is not about the Vietnam War, I disagree. There are two main themes, along with other tributary themes, in this movie. The first is about the horrors of war (everything from death, dehumanisation, killing of innocents, madness etc) which I needn't go into as it's well documented here. The other main theme is the shambles that was the Vietnam War. Incompetence, disunity and malfunction.
The Nung River journey serves it's purpose two-fold - a journey through dehumanisation that ends in madness, and an excuse to show off various examples of malfunction. Every encounter shows and example of why the US lost the war. Kilgore was acting out of self-interest. There was rorting going on left, right and centre. The bridge at the border had no command. In the words of other war movies, the Vietnam War was a cluster****. Perhaps the biggest example of this was in the letters from Kurtz. He found a way to fight the war successfully and was punished for it by his incompetent superiors. This in itself is it's own minor theme. Kurtz went mad not so much because of the physical horrors of war but because he shafted for being competent.
To the people who give the Redux (and therefore the 40th Anniversary edition I saw a few nights back) a 1/10. You have strong points. For me, the plantation scene stopped the flow. I can't see a reason to include this scene other than for Coppola to voice his own opinions of Vietnam through the French character. This further suggests that the disaster of the Vietnam War is indeed one of the main themes. There were other bits that others have pointed out as being unnecessary - the theft of the surfboard and subsequent pursuit of it by Kilgore. Added nothing and took away from the movie.
As for criticisms of Sheen's acting. I thought the whole blank face fit the character. I have no idea how good an actor he is or isn't but for me Willard had thoughts about what was going on but kept them to himself. Initially I think his facial expressions showed he was shocked at the gross incompetence going on around him but chose to keep it to himself.
I've seen this movie four times. The original twice, redux once and 40th anniversary once. I'm going to watch the original again. For anyone who hasn't seen it, my best guess is the original is the best one.