As the American campaign rages in Vietnam, Captain Willard thirsts for another mission, finding himself unable to relax between Tours of Duty and going slowly stir crazy in a Saigon hotel room. His wish is granted in the form of a covert operation to travel far upriver, deep in to Cambodia to assassinate a rogue Colonel who has created his own jungle kingdom and whom the army has declared insane due to his rambling radio messages.
On the way Willard sees the whole lunacy of the war which he needs to stay sane: the lack of direction, the young men sacrificed to the altar of public relations and the utter pointlessness of his country�s involvement. He gets closer to his quarry, not just geographically but also philosophically as he drifts along the river with his crew.
Never having seen the original Apocalypse Now (and I feel I might have missed out on quite an exhilarating cinematic experience there), I can�t compare and contrast this new cut with the others Coppola has produced. I can say it�s vastly better than the movie of the book from which it takes a vague lead, Hearts of Darkness with every facet of Coppola�s direction worthy of respect. I can also say that this is one of the finest Vietnam movies I have ever seen. Not just in the only real combat scene, the rightly famous helicopter attack on a Vietcong village by Kilgore which is full of grandeur, awesome stuntwork, gritty realism but also surreally dark humor of his real motivation � surfing.
The overriding condemnation of the war is tangible, with a succession of increasingly despondent and unhinged young soldiers encountered throughout the trip. At nearly three hours long there are some moments when the film loses its focus. Most notably in the plantation sequence when French colonialists wax lyrical on the redundancy of America�s involvement and selective foreign policies. Apparently this is one area extended in the Redux version, perhaps to the film�s detriment. I found the ending not as drawn out and anticlimactic as I had been led to believe and actually thought it was perfect considering a firebombing sequence would have paled compared to the Ride of the Valkyries.
The final confrontation sees Brando�s brilliant Colonel who has elevated himself to a god like status, but now wants nothing more than poetry, release from the insanity and a messenger for his views on war, finding the perfect candidate in the equally disapproving Willard, who he ensures becomes both his saviour and pupil in an appropriately savage ending. |
