Review of Apocalypse Now (1979) by Kendall I — 20 Apr 2012

I'm not one for war films, but this had me hooked from the start.

PLOT:In this Vietnam War epic, we follow Captain Benjamin Willard (Martin Sheen) as he's assigned to a mission to hunt down and kill a rogue colonel who went insane and took his troops with him, Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando). Capt. Willard boards a boat with a group of guys who agree to take him to this location. This film is his descent into the deep trenches of the 'Nam war. The plot is pretty basic, but executed brilliantly.

ACTING:The acting was great. Sheen did a brilliant job, as did Brando. I saw the toughness and insanity in each ones story through their acting. Besides these two stars of the show, the other shiners were Fredric Forrest as Chef, Albert Hall as Chief, and Dennis Hopper as the photo journalist with honorable mentions to Harrison Ford as the colonel, Laurence Fishbourne as Clean, and the camoes of Francis Ford Coppola as the director and the Playmates.

SCORE:The score is mixed up of several types of themes, from The Doors, to creepy horror score, to intense 80s-sounding score. They all mixed in to make fitting moods either way.

CAMERAWORK:This earned an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, and it shows. The shots captured by Coppola and his camera crew are harrowing and unique, as that of Kubrick. This is my first Coppola film other than The Outsiders, which I also enjoyed, and this has already gotten me hooked to him. Well played, Francis, well played.

OTHER CONTENT:People say this is the greatest war film ever created. Even though I haven't seen many, I would agree so far. The Vietnam War was a haunting, disturbing, scary war, and this captured everything and then some. It was brutal. It was twisted. It was all made in a brilliant way. This movie was memorable from its disturbing situations all the way down to its unique quotes. This is truly a brilliant film.

OVERALL,an epic war film with a brilliantly executed plot, great acting, mixed score, harrowing camerawork, and everything needed to make an accurate Vietnam War film.