Apocalypse Now is an experience so weird, disturbing, and dark, I had to take a class to fully understand it. The key thing is that it's more than a mere war movie; as an adaptation of Joseph Conrad's book, Heart of Darkness, the film is a dark and primal exploration of the savagery of the human heart, and a journey into insanity.
Set in the Vietnam war, there are just a few combat scenes in Apocalypse Now. The beach attack in the beginning half of the film is probably the most impressive action scene, for it is well-staged and thrilling. The rest of the film, however, settles into a slower, moodier, and more trance-like pacing. Action and violence occurs sporadically, but most of the film plays out like a mesmerizing nightmare. Much like a nightmare, there are gnarly and scary things to see, but it's hard to turn away from it.
Therein lies the film's greatest strength: its ability to convey horror and insanity within its narrative. The story itself is all about the journey into the "heart of darkness," figuratively and literally. As the characters traverse deeper into enemy territory, civilization gradually breaks down, until they reach a savage core. Thus, things become crazier, more insane, and more brutal, right up to the end. By the time you reach the end, strong themes emerge concerning savagery, the darkness of the human spirit, and morality. As a war movie, the film also harps a lot on the futility and insanity of war.
Even on the surface level, the story is pretty solid. The plot is pretty random, but it follows the structure of Joseph Conrad's novel pretty closely, and uses a lot of the same characters. The film treats the story and characters with diligent respect; even though it adapts a lot from the original book, it makes things fit into the Vietnam setting really well, and makes them stand out in their own unique ways. Whether you look at it as an adaptation or just another war movie, it works.
The filmmakers went through Hell and back to make this movie. The actual shooting went on sixteen months and went well over-budget, and in all that time, there were horrendous problems. Martin Sheen nearly died from a heart attack during filming. That scene in the beginning when he punches a mirror is not acting, and that was real blood on his hands. Marlon Brando arrived on the set totally unprepared for his role, causing even more grief. Other actors succumbed to substance abuse. Director Francis Ford Coppola lost a ton of weight during this project; later, he had an affair, which strained things even further. A typhoon destroyed some of the sets, delaying the production even further. The helicopters, which were on loan from the Filipino government, had to be withdrawn at certain times (even in the middle of shooting) to fight rebels in the area. The sheer amount of stress is palpable on-screen, and helps make it feel more real.
The film has splendid photography and editing. Acting is quite decent from the whole cast, and is admirable considering all they went through. Writing is good. This production uses a plethora of very real-looking sets, props, costumes, and locales. A lot of scenes are specifically staged to reflect actual iconic events of the Vietnam war, for decent effect. This film also uses a very fresh and original sound design; it was the first to use a 70mm Dolby Stereo surround-sound system, and it is awesome. Music is wild: the actual score is really funky, but the use of the Doors music and Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries is iconic.
There are at least two versions of this film available. The theatrical cut is a good, trim version that runs for two-and-a-half hours. The Redux edition adds on another 49 minutes: a massive wealth of new scenes, which slows things down a bit, but offers a lot more to the story and themes. There are a few scenes in the Redux version I didn't care for, but it is well worth seeing at least once. An alternate end-credits sequence was filmed (a fairly awesome scene where everything blows up), but never used for any of the film's cuts; it can be seen as a DVD or Blu-Ray special feature only.
Apocalypse Now is a sobering and mesmerizing exploration into the dark pit of mankind's primal soul. It gets pretty weird, dark, and violent, but the film is never distasteful about it. Even though it might be a hard thing to watch, in terms of its content and storytelling, it is worthwhile seeing at least once.
5/5 (Experience: Perfect | Story: Perfect | Film: Perfect)
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