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Apocalypse Now is a war film but is now a new kind of war film. It is very dark with not so much blood, guts etc but it shows the pure horror of war. It is filmed with dark cinematography, art direction, costumes and even dark make-up. The characters and the whole story is dark. It isn't scary but it is dark. Despite most of the dark qualities, the settings are really beautifully designed and filmed. This is one of the rare war films that has a really deep drama story that determines fate. It has action that is hard-hitting, impactful and quite gruesome which is natural of a war film. Apocalypse Now is a film that blew me away in almost every single aspect. I don't think there will be any darker war film that this.
Marlon Brando leads the cast but is only in the last hour out of the 157 minutes (195 minutes in the extended version). I can't see Marlon playing a supporting character very much. Marlon Brando portrays another villain but this time he is portraying a colonel of the US army who has gone AWOL and is declared insane. Marlon has brought back that real badass character back but Kurtz is a psycho killing his own people. Colonel Kurtz is the highly decorated American Army Special Forces officer who goes renegade. He runs his own operations out of Cambodia and is feared by the US Military as much as the Vietnamese. The way he kills his victims is a bit like a cannibalistic manner even though he isn't a cannibal. His performance was really terrifying. I liked Martin Sheen as Captain Benjamin L. Willard but I don't think he is exactly the top-notch actor to play that sort of character. Willard is a veteran who has been in Vietnam for three years. He is in the U.S. Special Forces and hinted to be an assassin. It is also strongly implied Willard worked for MACV-SOG and even the CIA. His attempt to re-integrate into society failed and he was sent back to Vietnam. I liked Robert Duvall's acting as well as Lieutenant Colonel William 'Bill' Kilgore. Kilgore is a strong leader who loves his men dearly but has methods that appear out-of-tune with the setting of the war.
This is Duvall's third collaboration with Francis Ford Coppola after The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II. Coppola has directed a different kind of directing to Apocalypse Now like he did for the two Godfather films. However, there is one thing he did bring to Apocalypse Now that The Godfather films have and that is they are epics but in different genres. Coppola has in my opinion created one of the best war films of all time at even the modern days now. He hasn't done many films but I guess that is rather good because he should stay with his masterpieces that were the Godfather trilogy and Apocalypse Now. This film has a very dark script that is just kick-ass is some ways like 'oh the horror, the horror' but in other ways of the film, it is very typical from a war action film.
Apocalypse Now is my second favourite war film of all time after Saving Private Ryan. It is definitely the darkest war film so far. Marlon Brando's performance is amazing but it isn't his best performance. He is better in A Streetcar Named Desire, The Godfather and On The Waterfront. Francis Ford Coppola's second best work after The Godfather. Brando's second collaboration with Francis Ford Coppola is an amazing one because they have worked together on two masterpieces. Apocalypse Now is definitely one of my favourite films of the 1970s and isn't far off from reaching my favourite films list.
9/10
