One of the Greatest War Films ever made

Rating: 10/10 (22 March 2007)

There is not much more you can say about Apocalypse Now. Some people on the message boards are talking about which scenes in the movie affected them the most. Me, I can't name just one scene because there were so many. I'll name a few though. The first scene with Kurtz was memorable, the helicopters coming in to attack while Flight of The Valkeryes is playing is another. The Vietnamize boat where Willard ends up killing a wounded Vientnam woman after everybody on the boat with her has been shot by his group. The bridge scene and the utter chaos when we learn that there is no leader for those guys protecting the bridge. The tiger, the scenery. I can go on and on. That's because Apocalypse Now is one of those rare war movies that just sweeps you into the plot with its epic storyline and doesn't let go.
The story involves Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) who is given the duty of going into the jungles of Cambodia to kill one Lieutenant Kurtz (Marlon Brando) because the U.S. military believe that he has gone totally insane and is not looking out for his country's best interests anymore. Willard takes the job, and along the way runs into all kinds of trouble and horror. His mission, on a boat, leads him deeper and deeper into darkness until eventually he finds Kurtz.
Francis Ford Coppola based his story of the Vietnam war on the novel Heart of Darkness which was written by Joseph Conrad. His own story follows that novel rather closely, and just as the novel becomes darker as the story goes on, so does Apocalypse Now. It all leads up to a very chilling and gripping ending which will never be forgotten even years from now. Apocalypse Now affected the conscious of everybody who watched it.
The movie is magnificent. Francis Ford Coppola, who also directed the Godfather Trilogy, has created another masterpiece here. The acting was superb by everyone. Some of the other familiar faces besides Brando and Sheen would include Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, Frederic Forrest, Harrison Ford in a minor role, Dennis Hopper, and Scott Glenn. Great scenes, superb pacing, and epic storytelling make Apocalypse Now one of the greatest movies ever made.