Amazon.co.uk Review
In the tradition of such obsessively driven directors as Erich von Stroheim and Werner Herzog, Francis Ford Coppola approached the production of Apocalypse Now as if it was his own epic mission into the heart of darkness. On location in the storm-ravaged Philippines, he quite literally went mad as the project threatened to devour him in a vortex of creative despair but from this insanity came one of the greatest films ever made. It began as a John Milius screenplay, transposing Joseph Conrad's classic story "Heart of Darkness" into the horrors of the Vietnam War, following a battle-weary Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) on a secret upriver mission to find and execute the renegade Colonel Kurtz(Marlon Brando), who has reverted to a state of murderous and mystical insanity. The journey is fraught with danger involving war-time action on epic and intimate scales. One measure of the film's awesome visceral impact is the number of sequences, images and lines of dialogue that have literally burned themselves into our cinematic consciousness, from the Wagnerian strike of helicopter gunships on a Vietnamese village to the brutal murder of stowaways and the unflinching fearlessness of the surfing warrior Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duvall), who speaks lovingly of "the smell of napalm in the morning." Like Herzog's Aguirre: The Wrath of God, this film is the product of genius cast into a pit of hell and emerging, phoenix-like, in triumph. Coppola's obsession (effectively detailed in the riveting documentary Hearts of Darkness, directed by Coppola's wife, Eleanor) informs every scene and every frame, and the result is a film for the ages. --Jeff Shannon
Amazon.co.uk Review
Following the example set by his old pals Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola has revisited a classic that no-one ever thought needed enhancement and produced Apocalypse Now Redux, a remastered and extended version of his hallucinogenic Vietnam nightmare that adds some 50 minutes of extra material. On the plus side, certain extended sequences--such as Kilgore's bombing-cum-surfing raid and the final battle of nerves between Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando--add greater depth to our appreciation of the film. On the debit side, the lengthy French plantation interlude and the squalid fate of the Playboy bunnies simply underscore what we already know about war and hell and the depressing futility of it all. It's possible that Apocalyspe Now is not really about Vietnam at all, but is in fact a despairing commentary on the dissolution of contemporary American society; it's also possible that Apocalypse Now Redux, for all its epic scale and visceral power, ultimately fails to make the film's real message any clearer than before. Either way, it remains one of the greatest (anti-)war films ever made.
On the DVD: Apocalypse Now Redux is self-recommending on DVD, especially with vividly remastered Dolby 5.1 sound (the whirling helicopter blades are dizzying) and an anamorphic widescreen picture. Disappointingly the disc contains no extra features other than a trailer for the Redux version. Coppola has provided excellent commentaries for his Godfather trilogy so it's a shame not to have his comments here; and the justly famous "Heart of Darkness" documentary is conspicuous by its absence, too. --Mark Walker
DVD Description
With 49 additional minutes of never-before-seen footage, Oscar-winning director Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather Part II) presents this definitive, all-new director's cut of this groundbreaking motion picture epic. Honoured with nine 1979 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, it's a powerful cinematic journey featuring Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen and Laurence Fishburne in a stellar cast. Also starring Robert Duvall, Harrison Ford and Dennis Hopper, Apocalypse Now Redux is not merely an extended version of a big-screen classic it is a completely re-thought, re-mixed and re-edited interpretation of a film widely considered one of the greatest movies ever made.
Special Features
- Theatrical Trailer
DVD Technical Information:
Synopsis
Francis Ford Coppola's masterful film about the moral madness of the Vietnam War was inspired by Joseph Conrad's novella, Heart of Darkness. Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is sent into the Cambodian jungle to terminate with extreme prejudice Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), who has become insane and now runs his own fiefdom. Traveling downriver on a patrol boat, Willard encounters an air cavalry commander, Lt. Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duvall), whose love of war is matched only by his love of surfing. Coppola almost went bankrupt and Sheen suffered a heart attack during the making of the film, but the rigorous shoot paid off in this unforgettable film. For the first time ever, the Apocalypse Now "Complete Dossier" is available in the UK. This very special Steelbook edition features both the original and "Redux" cuts, never before seen bonus footage and standout packaging.
