Production elements are the prominent feature of Coppola's war masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (11 September 2009)

It's hard to argue that "Apocalypse Now" is anything but one of the top three war films if not the best ever made. There's just nothing wrong with it. Sure, there might be parts that don't resonate as well and the film certainly doesn't broadcast its messages in the most direct of ways, but confusion has nothing to say to the film's breathtaking visuals and impeccable post-production craftsmanship.
Francis Ford Coppola's non-"Godfather" masterpiece is a Vietnam update of the classic Joseph Conrad novel "Heart of Darkness." Capt. Willard (Sheen) is ordered on a mission to travel up a river in Vietnam to find a former army Col. Walter Kurtz (Brando), who has gone "rogue" and taken charge of a local tribe. Willard is ordered to terminate Kurtz ... with extreme prejudice. With a band of ordinary soldiers, he travels upriver on a patrol boat on a mission that drastically changes his perspective.
It's funny, because what most people look for in movies -- great story, epiphany, great acting -- are not the strongest points of "Apocalypse Now." The level of practical effects, explosions and the sheer scale of some of the war sequences — all of which were pulled off on location in the Philippines —creates an unbelievably palpable experience for the viewer. The fact that D.P. Vittorio Storaro captures it all with stirring beauty in spite of the mayhem of this production and the undoubtedly testy elements makes his work one of the most remarkable achievements in cinematography of all time. The lights, the glare spots, the explosions and the jarring but effective changes in color palettes are so impressive that they tell a story in themselves.
Sound-wise, helicopter blades dominate the first significant chunk of this film and they begin to haunt you as a sound of war and danger, not to mention the challenges of mixing sound when that noise is so overpowering. The way it's all strung together is bound to be under- appreciated considering how much is going on and that the plot demands a lot of our attention.
"Apocalypse Now" has a complex view of war that goes way beyond mere protest. In fact, it's not about war, but the inner struggle within the persons stuck in the middle of it. It's about the choices humans make in dealing with the complicated forces inside them beckoning them to do one or the other and how war puts an incredible and terrible strain on that process.
I watched "Apocalypse Now Redux," the 2001 re-edit of the film including nearly 50 minutes extra footage. Having not seen the original but knowing which scenes were added, I think the extra footage makes a difference. Scenes involving the stranded Playmates and the French woman who takes kindly to Willard add a sensuality to the film that brings a new layer of meaning to the journey of Willard and the young PBR crew. It make it all the more apparent just how out of place these soldiers were in Vietnam and why the US couldn't "win" despite more than adequate numbers.
Although the production elements of the film are its crowning achievement, the script by John Milius and Coppola along with Michael Herr's narrative additions provide the bedrock. The way Willard's journey allows him to understand more about the man he's after and pushes him into Kurtz's shoes is one of the clearer points of the film and the turning points are all based around it.
Willard himself is an interesting protagonist in that with the exception of his first scene, we get no real sense of who he is. All his voice-over narration is expository with philosophical ponderings peppered in that set the stage for the greater moral questions that will come to a head once he finds Kurtz. Essentially, Willard is a stand in for us. Sheen's strength is that when we do see him on screen, his expressions our open-ended and allow us to project our own reactions to what happens in the film.
Once Kurtz arrives, we reach the film's poetic, philosophical core. Brando's shadowy presence punctuates the moral dialogue happening both on screen and in our minds as we process. Actors of his gravitas don't really exist anymore, and his legend maintains that mystique nearly four decades later. Nothing about his scenes disappoints — the combination of performance, writing and directing result in a climax that lives up to its hype and billing.
"Apocalypse Now" makes not just a war statement or a political statement, but a human statement. The Vietnam War feels less essential to relaying its messages than is the case with most Vietnam War films. Human nature, morality and judgment play out in a cryptic, poetic dance on film, one that begins loud and journeys inward. Few films manage to brilliantly achieve both.
~Steven C
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