"Horror and moral terror are your﻿ friends. If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies."

Rating: 10/10 (23 January 2012)

A+
The 1979 Francis Ford Coppola legend, it's definitely a must see. There has been many a film to depict the nightmare that was Vietnam, among the most popular being "Full Metal Jacket" (1987) and "Platoon" (1986). They're all incredible films, my personal favorite being "Platoon" (William Dafoe just won my heart), but when it comes to striking visuals this one takes the lead. The film is saturated with low-key lighting throughout, quite literally giving the movie the feeling of a horror story. The screenplay is greatly inspired by Joseph Conrad's novella "Heart of Darkness"; hence the majority of the movie takes place on a fictional river.
While certainly a historical piece, the focal point to me would be the inner true savage nature of man which is brought out to the full by the war's onslaught. The notion it seeks to point out is that man has tried to 'domesticate' war, and to an extent their drive to kill. That is what Marlon Brando's character so vividly mocks; the top brass' attempt to make warfare humane. Though some consider his character to truly be insane, I believe he's simply "a puppet who can see the strings".
The cast is pretty exceptional, with Martin Sheen, Laurence Fishburne, Robert Duvall as the odd Kilgore, and Dennis Hopper in similar role to the one he had in "Easy Riders" (1969). And who could forget Sam Bottoms as the acid-tripping soldier who by the end of the movie had not much of a mind left. Adding to this is the psychedelic score by Carmine Coppola, which fits the time yet hasn't aged in the least. In fact, it adds dread to the atmosphere, a dread I honestly haven't seen in a war film since. But above all, I can say the film probably has the most epically shot battle scene of all time when it comes to war movies. Everyone knows it; in fact there was a nice little homage in Zack Snyder's "Watchmen" (2009). The timeless Wagner piece 'Ride of the Valkyries' plays as long shots show the extensive damage and mayhem. The music, the quick-cutting and the cinematography come together to make a perfect scene.
"Apocalypse Now" is a Coppola spectacle.