SummaryDuring the Vietnam War, Captain Willard is sent on a dangerous mission into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade colonel who has set himself up as a god among a local tribe.
SummaryDuring the Vietnam War, Captain Willard is sent on a dangerous mission into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade colonel who has set himself up as a god among a local tribe.
With Apocalypse Now Redux — one for the ages when it comes to the moral battles of war — Coppola has reached the finish line at last. It smells like victory.
the last great film made by Hollywood. The Redux version is a special treat as the extra scenes at the rubber plantation really do fit well in the narrative and evoke a beautiful phantomatic dream of a colonial past underpinned by the wonderfully decadent "succubus" actress played by Aurore Clément (from a biased French viewpoint of course)
This movie is absoultely incredible in almost every way. A long and surreal descent into madness that explores the psychological effects of war in unflinching and terrifying ways.
As we follow the characters on their boat trip, the movie goes from a war film to full on horror by the end and I love every second of it (even Redux is a masterpiece and it's the version I prefer watching. The french plantation scene did drag a bit for me the first time, but not at all the second time).
Whatever version you watch, whatever opinion you have on the Vietnam war, whether or not you think that Frederic Forrest looks like a mix between Matthew McConaughey and Paul Rudd, Apocalypse Now is and will always be one of the greatest movies of all time.
What was impressive 22 years ago seems even more so now; what was problematic seems less important. Changes in us as an audience, changes in filmmaking fashions, changes in the times we live in, they've all combined in making this "Apocalypse" feel more impressive, more of a revelation than it did before.
Twenty-two years on, the picture has aged better than we have; it both feeds our hunger for sensation and scorns our impatient need to have it all right now—apocalypse is, whatever the title claims, always waiting round the river bend. Many people will continue to find it incoherent; but, frankly, given the choice between a work so laden with ambition that it nearly breaks its back and the stiff, crowing blockbusters of today, too timid to stretch their wings, I know which I would take.
The restored footage, nearly an hour of it, has at once bloated and diluted the work we've known and half-loved, undercutting its still-astonishing strengths while making its flaws leap out with unprecedented clarity. You can now fully appreciate the job that Coppola and his colleagues did in 1979 of salvaging what might have been a dud on the order of … Apocalypse Now Redux.
Apocalypse Now is impressive for its proximity to realism and scaring brutality as the public were actually into the war. And yes, all of those explosion was made without CGI. With these almost 50 minutes scenes added, many of it complements the plot and even generates a proxemy with characters.
Ambitious, visceral, genuine and holding. Even so verbose, I felt not about to abandon the movie while I was watching and beyond this, each minute is full filled with some important fact on story and whithout being redundant, even this scene being about the most trivial thing.
A must-watch.
Un film-fleuve qui porte fort bien son nom, surtout dans sa version Redux qui en rajoute une bonne couche et dépasse allègrement les 3 heures... Une sorte d'épopée apocalyptique et une vision stupéfiante de la guerre au Vietnam, très personnelle et très différente de tous les autres films ayant jamais été tournés sur le sujet.
Le film de Coppola brille sur bien des tableaux : il excelle dans sa mise en scène qui rappelle du Kubrick, il sidère par son atmosphère de plus en plus délétère et il irradie la folie tout autour de lui, car dans cette guerre, tout le monde est soit devenu fou, soit en train de le devenir... Avec de temps à autre une ironie et une subtile distanciation, Apocalypse Now nous brosse à traits puissants un conflit contradictoire et kafkaïen, empêtré dans sa propre psychose.
Le film impressionne également par les moyens déployés et les séquences d'anthologie qui se succèdent les unes aux autres. La version Redux rajoute ici et là des petites scènes qui étoffent et précisent le récit mais le plus gros ajout concerne la discussion surréaliste avec les Français... Là encore, tout le monde est un peu dingue, sans doute parce que le pays et son climat rendent complètement marteau...
Pour Martin Sheen, c'est le film d'une vie et si l'acteur n'a jamais confirmé par la suite, il est totalement habité par le rôle ici. Sa voix off qui narre les évènements et ses réflexions est une riche idée qui permet de mieux comprendre le personnage tiraillé et le soldat fatigué... Et que dire de la prestation courte et crépusculaire mais ô combien remarquée (et remarquable) de Marlon Brando en homme brisé ? elle est aussi exceptionnelle que l'ensemble du film lui-même.
C'est aussi un film pacifiste et un magnifique réquisitoire contre l'absurdité et la folie de cette guerre en particulier et de la guerre en général : une oeuvre habitée, presque hallucinée, bouleversante qui touche du doigt dans son édition Redux la perfection pure et simple.
Apocalypse Now Redux is my favourite movie of all time. This gripping story lasts almost 3.5 hours, and the awesome storytelling combined with very good cinematography in a typical Coppola style makes for an unforgettable experience. Captain Willard struggles as he tries to complete his mission. It is the finest Vietnam movie I've seen, it depicts the war from a different perspective, one that shows how people are psychologically affected by this tragic historical event.