Hard to sit through and not terribly good ending

Rating: 9/10 (2 September 2004)

The only two problems with this movie are, as the one line summary states, the length and the ending. It's so long that unless you're very determined or very patient, you're not gonna sit through it to the end(particularly not if you're watching the "redux" version which I was(un?)lucky enough to see on TV). And the ending seems to suggest that Coppola had either run out of steam or simply didn't know how he should end it. As a war film, it's not particularly realistic, I guess, but more of a piece about the descent into madness that you experience under such dehumanizing circumstances. I found it interesting to see as such a film, but arguably not much else... I also found it interesting to recognize the actors, whom I, for the most part, hadn't seen in a film from, at least before the 80's. If any of this doesn't make sense, don't blame me... blame the fact that I'm writing this as I'm almost falling asleep after the movie. Now, let it be known, that I didn't pay attention to the entire thing; I am neither a man of great patience nor determination(well, not enough, anyway) so I fell asleep once or twice through this film, and actually found myself awaking a few minutes after it had ended, and had to rewind it to catch the ending. Maybe that affected my judgment, maybe not(it probably did). However, what I saw, I mostly liked. The acting is very good. The characters are well-written and nuanced. The action is well-done. The cinematography is very good. All in all, a very good film, if you have the patience and you're sufficiently interested in seeing this very well done piece of film, despite it's very long runtime(maybe you would want to start with the original version, not the "redux" one I saw). I recommend it to just about anyone who really is interested in films and the media of movies. If you can sit through it, you probably should. Any Coppola fan should definitely experience this. 9/10