Possibly the greatest adapted screenplay in history

Rating: 10/10 (13 April 2008)

Having seen this film for the second time about two months ago, I am yet to finish wiping my brains off the walls from when my mind blew. Going into the film I was slightly sceptcial due to the disappointment of the Godfather series. I had also seen The Conversation, which was impressive, so I decided to give this one a shot. To this day it is indisputably my favourite film.
I had always considered Heart of Darkness to be one of the great literary texts, and its adaptation is as close to perfect as I can imagine. The genius of Coppola is in the initial idea to turn Conrad's novella into a war film set in Vietnam, allowing him some flexibility with the characters. Captain Willard, played superbly by Martin Sheen, replaces Conrad's literary character Charles Marlow, and other replacements are visible throughout the film (Dennis Hopper replacing 'the Russian' for example). Coppola, whose understanding of the text seems absolute, saw that a literal adaptation of the novella would prove to be impossible, or at least fail (as the film 'Heart of Darkness' proved), because it could not possibly preserve the philosophical intensity prevalent in Conrad's writing. The film combines a brilliant script, great performances (particularly from Sheen and Robert Duvall), and stunning visual effects to do justice to one of the great philosophical works.
The main themes of Heart of Darkness, namely the underlying irrationality of society and the true violent nature of humanity, are explored cleverly and comprehensively through the setting of war, one of the great showcases for these themes. The intensity of the book which is impossible to translate into film is more than made up for by the incredible special effects which will have you gasping for much of the time.
I agree with IMDb's top 250 in one sense; a Coppola movie should indeed be at #1, but it isn't the Godfather part II