Masterful piece of cinema

Rating: 9/10 (17 August 2004)

Knowing little about Apocalypse Now bar it being set during the Vietnam conflict, I viewed the Redux version with a completely open mind.

Having journeyed through a 3 hour 15 minute epic I can only say this really is as breathtaking and brilliant a movie as I'd been led to believe.
Martin Sheen is Captain Willard, a soldier stationed in Saigon after various missions in Vietnam. Holed up alone, he is picked to undertake an assassination mission of the reclusive Colonel Kutz, played by the ever-marvellous Marlon Brando. Getting to Kutz will not be easy, such is the isolation he's ended up in deep in Cambodia. The mission is based on the fact the American army believes Kutz to have become insane, and commanding armies on the wrong side of the war. 'His methods are unsound'. Willard must infiltrate Kutz' army and murder the man himself.
However, to say it will be an epic journey is an understatement of some magnitude and summing it all up is practically impossible.
The many strengths of this movie result in a level of depth which is quite flabbergasting. The acting is absolutely outstanding and incredibly convincing. We undoubtably care about the characters such is the warmth and affection with which they are portrayed. Even the lesser-featured characters are vastly significant in their own right, such as Robert Duvall's gung-ho Kilgore - he loves the smell of napalm in the morning. And then there's the spaced out but endearing photographer, played by the energetic Dennis Hopper. Similar character to who he was in Easy Rider, but more exaggerated here.
Then there is the quite superb direction/cinematography. Each scene has an amazing amount of life within it, with camera work which has to be seen to be believed. Some of the shots are just astounding, either encompassing impressive scale battle, or more humble close ups. I don't quite know how Ford Coppola did it, but this was a masterstroke and a lesson in filmmaking.
A review of Apocalypse Now would be empty without mention of the enigmatic Brando. Every scene he is in he steals just as he did in the Godfather. The man was the human embodiment of the brilliance of cinema, and while he's not on-screen for a massive amount, he still becomes by far and away the most important and intriguing character in the entire tale.
To summise, Apocalypse Now is everything a movie needs to be; gripping, dramatic, intruiging, exciting and personable.
One of the all time greats? Without doubt.