Must See Movie...
... View MoreI don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.
... View MoreIt is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review
... View MoreA terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
... View MoreI know many would say that this movie is not really just about Colonel Kurtz. It is actually about the journey, about what how the war really impacted people, about the terror-the despair-the victims-the soldiers-the guilt-the sacrifice-the executions and so on. To many it is sublime, to some it's Coppola's best work even. No grievance against that in my case.Also, the movie did show a very different kind of valor. We all were on our toes for finding out the terrifying Colonel. How intriguing he would be! He would not go without a ferocious fight- that was expected. Coppola literally just flouted at us there. No objections here either. An excellent venture on his side. I am pretty sure I would have enjoyed the cheekiness here , only the timing was off- 2 hours 33 minutes off to be exact. To sum it up - don't watch if you are not able to stomach cheekiness after devoting yourself to something for that long, otherwise it is a pretty awesome movie.
... View MoreThere is no denying. Apocalypse Now is one of the finest, most disturbing, unsettling yet unreleningly gripping and beautiful films of all time.
... View MoreWhy would you watch this more than once? I can't even make it through the movie once. What a horrible waste of 2 and a half hours. Just stop!
... View MoreCoppolla's flawed but masterfully done movie earns it's ranking on almost every top film list that matters. 3 years in the making, the finished cut (the 1979 version not the "Redux") doesn't reflect Coppolla's personal agony in creating this (that story is told in the documentary "Hearts of Darkness" by Coppolla's wife Eleanor). Like every war movie, there are the inevitable criticisms of lack of realism in the events portrayed, to the tune of "Yeah we really did a lot of surfing during fire fights, didn't we?" But that viewpoint is perhaps improper when looking at a truly unconventional movie of this type. "Apocalypse" is no documentary but a metaphor for the Vietnam war itself, and comparing it to other more realistic movies such as "Platoon" is unfair. Coppolla clearly is going for effect here, and the extreme absurdity of the events shown are intentional and meant to elicit an emotional reaction from the viewer (and anyone who saw this film in a packed theater in 1979 will tell you, Coppolla succeeded admirably at this). This is one of the few movies that deserve (and almost require) multiple viewings, since it would be very difficult to get the full effect of the powerful story-telling going on here, and to grasp the message (the madness that was Vietnam.). It's safe to say if this is your first viewing of "apocalypse", it'll be like no other movie ever made, before or since.In my opinion the best cut of the film to watch is the 1979 original and NOT the "Redux", at least for the first viewing. The Redux was released in 2001 and includes about an additional hour of footage - but most of the new footage seems pointless, is fairly ponderous, slows down the story immensely and not one bit of it adds to the plot (and in fact dilutes the story in a big way.)
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