"This is the end, my only friend, the end!"-- Apocalypse Now Redux review

"This is the end, my only friend, the end!"-- Apocalypse Now Redux review

Apocalypse Now is a 1979 war film written by John Milius, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and starring Martin Sheen as Captain Benjamin Willard, a CIA assassin commissioned to locate and terminate the command of a renegade Special Forces operative named Colonel Walter E. Kurtz (Marlon Brando) who is wanted for murdering Vietnamese agents and building a fortress in a Cambodian jungle where natives worship him as a god. The film is loosely based on Joseph Conrad's 19th century novella The Heart of Darkness about a voyage up the Congo River to the heart of Africa, the Congo free state. In Apocalypse Now, this river is renamed the  Nung River up which Captain Willard finds Kurtz and personal redemption. The film also stars Laurence Fishburne, Dennis Hopper, Robert DuVall, and Harrison Ford. 

This version of the film is called the Redux version due to 49 minutes of footage added to the original theatrical version in 2001. There is more action in this version such as the helicopter raid on Vin Bin Drop where Captain Willard begins his journey up the river. But the key added scene in the Redux version involves the French plantation outpost where Willard has a brief affair with a French woman by the name of Madam Sarrault. Why this scene was left out of the original is understandable because of that version's 2 1/2 running time; however, having this scene in this version provides a greater understanding of both Kurtz's and Willards' dislocation from reality. Another added scene is a continuation of the scene at the supply depot involving the Playboy bunnies. In this film, Willard and his crew find the bunnies further upriver. Even this small scene, thanks to editor Walter Murch, seems necessary to the film's overall theme. In all, the added footage takes the original 1979 feature from 2 1/2 hours to almost 3 1/2 hours and let me tell you that once you see this version you'll never go back to the original. 

I have the blu ray and the sound and color are worth the upgrade if you're coming from DVD. Can't say enough about this movie which is probably the best film about war ever. Very entertaining!