Rating of
4/4
"Apocalypse Now" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 01/13/12
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. The first time I'm seen it since viewing the ill-conceived Redux version, this is a much better cut although come the finale, I couldn't shake the feeling that something (it escapes me what exactly) was missing. Some may be left bemused by the rather free-form approach but it is certainly the most creative and provocative war film ever made.
APOCALPSE NOW REDUX (***/5)
Redux is the perfect warning sign to discourage any director who is thinking about letting his ego ride roughshod over the editing process. It's true, some great films have been compromised by studio intereference, but more often than not, footage that ends up on the cutting room floor is there for a very good reason. Case in point; Apocalypse Now is one of the greatest films ever made, and yet all Coppola had to do to turn it into a flabby, meandering, episodic road movie was to put back all the bits that were actually too crap to make it into the original cut. There are some scenes of merit, namely the bonding session between Martin Sheen and his crew when they steal Robert Duval's surfboard, and Brando's speech when he is first captured. Unfortunately, Coppola also felt the need to include a rather distasteful sequence that reveals our heroes to be date rapists and a virtually unwatchable load of pseudo-political waffle set to the accordion. That scene alone was enough to make me want to attack any Frenchman on sight. Maybe worth a watch to satisfy the curious, but PLEASE make sure you watch the "proper" version first otherwise you may be put off watching a cinematic masterpiece for life.
