ViewGuide

Created Jan 11, 2009 12:37AM PST • Edited Jan 11, 2009 12:37AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Perfect 5.0

   A fantastic film cataloguing insanity, war and imperialism, Apocalypse Now is a sprawling, magnificent film that masterfully builds up dread and tension through its adaptation of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.

4. Acting

   Perfect 5.0

   Martin Sheen is Willard, the main protagonist and soldier ordered to go after Marlon Brando’s Colonel Kurtz, and Harrison Ford, Dennis Hopper, a young Laurence Fishburne and Robert Duvall are amongst the stellar support. The cast of the boat that Willard joins on his journey are significant also – the actors convincingly convey a sense of change and a downward spiral into madness.

5. Male Stars Perfect 5.0

   Sheen is fantastic here – he is on-screen most of the time, yet appears distant, his character so far gone into the world of the post-war veteran, and sent back, his demeanour is suggestive of someone addicted; he didn’t want this, but he needs it, and there’s nothing else he can do. His narrative’s parallel with Brando’s Kurzt is masterfully played out, and their eventual meeting is impressive to behold. Brando is not in the film that much – in fact, it is in hearing recordings of his voice and seeing pictures of him that we gain a mounting sense of mystery, and when the viewer finally sees the man, the actor does not disappoint – conveying a sense of insanity with that of a man who has had enough with fighting for someone else, and has decided to take that power and use it for his own ends.

6. Female Stars Perfect 5.0

   There aren’t really any women in this film at all – but then, as you might expect from a war film, there was never going to be. I’ve adjusted the score anyway, as it hardly seems fair to pull down the efforts of the male cast members here.

7. Female Costars Perfect 5.0

   Same as with female stars – score adjusted accordingly.

8. Male Costars Perfect 5.0

   The male co-stars here are numerous and incredibly diverse; from the cameo from Harrison Ford, to the gleeful madness of Robert Duvall’s madman officer Kilgore, the supporting cast has many small standouts. The boat captain, played by Albert Hall, is perfectly in sync with Laurence Fishburne’s young upstart soldier, and along with Sam Bottoms and Frederic Forrest, they make the small boat’s crew that much easier to relate to throughout the movie – these are young guys, not ready for war, and not ready to face the hell that Willard commands them into. Dennis Hopper pops up towards the end as a spaced-out, drugged-up photographer who is part of Kurtz’s gang, and his rabid, non-stop idolising of the man makes good use of Hopper’s hyperactive acting as well as continuing to big up the reputation of the as-yet unseen Kurtz.

10. Film

    Really Great 4.5

    The documentation on the hell this movie went through on its way to production is widespread, and sometimes it shows here. However, Coppola’s taste for realism is starkly apparent in the way this film has been made – the army attack on the Vietcong coastal village is a battle the likes of which you would be hard pressed to find in any other film. It’s astounding, both in execution and in the way it’s been visualised.

11. Direction Perfect 5.0

    Coppola has made what I think to be his best film with Apocalypse Now – The Godfather is a fantastic film, don’t get me wrong, but this is, in my opinion, the peak of what he could hope to achieve. The adapting of Conrad’s novella is ingenious in incorporating the Vietnam War, and the sets, actors and visuals are an example of how film should be; the best of the best, without concession.

12. Play Really Great 4.5

    The dialogue takes many aspects of Heart of Darkness, and even tops the book in places where the madness of Kurtz is laid bare for all to see. And the quotable lines – well, you probably know most of them already, an indication of the influence this film’s script has had on popular culture.

13. Music Very Good 3.5

    The soundtrack was actually the most disappointing thing about the film – other than the great use of The Doors and Ride of the Valkyries, it’s all synth strings – a real shame when you consider the epic scale of the film. With an orchestral soundtrack, it would have been unbeatable, but the synth really ruins some key emotional scenes.

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0

    The battle of the Vietcong village alone justifies this score. I’ve already mentioned it, but the sight of helicopters bombarding a real village with real fire-power, followed by a napalm bombing of the forest, is breathtaking to withhold. Using the Philippines as a substitute for Vietnam allowed for Coppola to get the forests, rivers and vistas that only accentuate the splendour, and Kurtz’s palace at the conclusion of the film is an example of the grand, opulent sets that movies used to have. No effects are needed nor were used – only assisting in making the film’s visual acumen that much more profound.

15. Content

16. Edge

    Horrid 3.7

    The film does contain everything, at different points (and, depending on the edition, excised scenes). It’s brutal and disturbing, so please be warned. An animal is slaughtered as well – little advice for those who are against animal cruelty!

17. Sex Erotic 3.0

    One scene that is out and out sex, and other scenes of topless or naked women, as well as many of naked men.

18. Violence Monstrous 4.6

    From the battles to the disturbing remains littered around Kurtz’s temple, this film presents violence as standard.

19. Rudeness Profane 3.5

21. Reality

    Natural 1.0

    The whole story is entirely, one hundred percent realistic. That’s the chilling part – this could so easily happen in war, with those asked to fight for a cause turning and fighting against it. Kurtz (the film one anyway) is even based on a real soldier, who acted similarly before Vietnam in a CIA operation. It cannot be said that people do not desire power – and in this case, whilst perhaps being an extreme example, Kurtz is an example of the submissive turned dominant.

22. Circumstantial Natural 1.0

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0