Review of Apocalypse Now (1979) by Xgary X — 10 Jun 2014

A black ops assassin is sent into the jungles of South East Asia to hunt down and kill a one-time career military golden boy who has turned renegade and began operating outside of the chain of command.

Francis Ford Coppola's dream-like journey through the horrors and absurdities of the Vietnam war, like 2001: A Space Odyssey before it, is more an experience than a story with any kind of strict middle, beginning and end.

It's not the destination that's important. It's chock full of memorable performances from Martin Sheen's Willard who becomes fascinated with his target and shares more in common with him than he'd like to admit, through to Brando's towering presence as the rarely seen, shadow enshrouded god of war who has tired of the hypocritical "rules of engagement".

Not forgetting Kilgore, who despite the long and illustrious career of Robert Duvall, will always be the character he is remembered for and the Ride Of The Valkyries sequence is one of the all-time greats of cinema.

It has so many haunting, nightmarish images and the whole film is absolutely stunning to look at from beginning to end. Some may be left bemused by the rather free-form approach but it is certainly the most creative and provocative war film ever made.