Movie of the Week: Apocalypse Now Redux

   

 

    Movie of the Week (9/22/13-9/28/13): You may remember this review of this movie when I first saw it for the first time back in March. But, I felt that it deserved a slot in the Movie of the Week list sooner rather than later. When I finally had the privilege to see the highly acclaimed Vietnam War movie I was very excited and had high expectations for it and they were fulfilled. But, I saw the newer version of it, the version that Francis Ford Coppola, the director, wanted to produce back in 1979. That being said, this version is 49 minutes longer putting the film at a 3 hour and 20 minute epic, so it is easy to see why he chose to cut the film down and make it shorter. However, this version is the only version I have seen, as of right now. I guess this version was just so fantastically edited that I didn't feel like watching the original version, although some day I might.
    This is a review of Apocalypse Now Redux, which came out in 2001. This film is a very dark and disturbing account of the Vietnam War and is a character driven film. It is about a Captain who is sent on a classified mission into Cambodia to kill a Colonel who has gone insane, made himself a god among the local tribes, and works through brutal tactics. The mission seems quite simple, take a boat up river and kill him, but it is not. What goes on in the film is not just about that, it is also about the many different events they encounter along the way.
    But, like I said this is a movie driven by amazing characters and the actors who play them. First, we have Martin Sheen playing Captain Benjamin Willard on the mission. Right off the bat, in the opening scene, we see what the horrors of war does to men by seeing his character lose himself without any dialog. As great as that scene is, it gets better as his reactions to different events grow stronger and darker. He delivers probably the best performance of his career as a Captain, of little words at times, who tells the background of the Colonel through voice over and you can hear the stress in his voice, which makes the film more chilling.

    The next character is Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, played by Robert Duvall who was nominated for an Oscar. His part is small in the movie compared to the length of it, but an important character, he is one of the men Willard meets on his mission. Duvall's whole character centers around him and his men clearing out a village via helicopter attack for Willard and his crew. This scene is very disturbing and graphically depicted with Robert Duvall taking complete control and does a fantastic job.

    Our last character is the mission himself, Colonel Walter Kurtz, played by the great Marlon Brando. We do not even see this character, even though he was top billed, until about 35 minutes remaining in the film. But, once we do meet him the tone of the film changes very fast, it goes from dark to darker and just plain disturbing. This is possible by the performance of Brando, he gives the audience a truly haunting and disturbed character to read. We finally see what is wrong with him once we meet him and find out why the army wants him dead. The movie is truly worth seeing because of his scenes alone even if they are the shortest in the film.
    Although this is a character driven film, there are also several other aspects that make this one of the greatest war movies of all time. The director, Francis Ford Coppola, digs deep into the terror of the Vietnam War in the physical and mental aspects and puts it on the screen in a great haunting fashion through the characters. We also have beautiful Oscar winning cinematography that brings out the likes of the jungle and the graphic depiction of war. Many other aspects like the editing, which is top notch, sound mixing, and the score, which makes the film feel that much more haunting, all make the film worth the watch and the experience of it.
    This is one of the greatest war movies ever made, it might not seem that way as the way I have been describing it as a haunting and disturbing film. However, it is that way because of the wonderful dark performances by the actors, especially Marlon Brando, whose performance is truly fantastic and adds more to the Redux version. A great, well acted, well directed, and long movie that you must see. I will watch the theatrical version soon, hopefully, and compare the two to see which version is better, but for now the Redux version is the version that should be seen and by the end of it you too will be saying, "the horror, the horror." 
4/4 Stars