Apocalypse Now

Note: this time I watched the redux cut, which is about 50 minutes longer than the theatrical cut.  I don’t know if I can fully express how amazing this movie is. Martin Sheen puts on the best performance I’ve ever seen in any medium, everyone brings their A-game but sheen is on another level here. Everyone talks about Brando and he’s amazing too but I think sheen just is so goddamn good. The production value is absolutely impeccable, the absolute nightmare scenarios that happened during filming feel worth it just because this movies so goddamn perfect. The cinematography is unreal, despite the grounded setting it almost feels supernatural in scale and psychedelic/feverish in tone. The cruelty and absurdity of the Vietnam war is on full display here, the whole movie has this deep melancholy and bleakness that can never go away. It’s like the movie equivalent of laughing bitterly when you know everything’s fucked and your life is ruined. This movie feels haunted, in the best possible way. There’s so much symbolism and meaning everywhere, this is my fourth time watching in 3 months and I still feel like I learn something new every time.  Now, how are the extra 50 minutes that redux adds?  So the sequence where they steal Kilgores board is pretty unnecessary, didn’t feel like it added much to the movie and kind of made Willard being super grim in the next scene feel slightly off, but it also humanizes him a good amount, which I feel like helps the movies themes. The extra bit with the playboy bunnies also doesn’t add much, it makes sense that this was the first sequence that got cut and it makes even more sense that it isn’t in the Final Cut. Very sad, but not a bad scene at all, but ultimately not necessary. The French plantation sequence starts off with one of the best shots in the entire movie, a shot so good that I wonder if Coppola only kept this sequence around bc of that shot. It starts off well enough, the burial of Clean is kind of a standout ngl. The whole sequence is more of an interlude and is rather infamous, and kind of justifiably so; it seriously hurts the pacing of the movie. The sequence does humanize Willard further, which is nice, and I like the stuff about duality. The stuff about civilian perception of the war is interesting too. Ultimately, this sequence absolutely does not need to be in the movie, and it’s much better off without it because it’s so damaging to the pacing. The bit with Kurtz reading from time magazine is weird mainly because it’s the only time Kurtz is shown without shadows around him. I also don’t really see what it adds to the movie, probably the most pointless or all these additional scenes. Also I swear the tv I watched this on had weird lighting or something cuz many scenes in the theatrical cut where the shadows look pitch black look noticeably brighter here. Ultimately: this movie has me like Dennis Hopper’s character when he describes colonel Kurtz:  “I wish I had words, you know? I wish I had words.” I love this movie a lot, even with the extra unnecessary stuff. theatrical cut is way better than redux, and while the extra stuff is interesting, it leaves the movie feeling a little bloated and sluggish. Movie is still extremely amazing.