January of 2017, I watched and reviewed both the original theatrical cut and the Redux version of Apocalypse Now; I hadn't seen that in a long while. I gave it the highest possible score as the movie is an incredible and haunting journey. To repeat part of the review (not the part at the beginning where I note that at the time, there was a Kickstarter to make this a videogame! I had completely forgotten about that):
"I will talk about the opening scene in particular. It is perfect in establishing the film. The mix of The End by The Doors, the jungle in flames, the blades of the ceiling fan being like the blades on a helicopter, Martin Sheen hot and sweaty in a Saigon apartment, artifacts strewn about, him being haunted by the war, him drunkenly punching a mirror (which was actually legit, as Sheen was drunk at the time; he had a problem with alcohol during this period).. it's excellent and prepares you for what is to come. The movie is a long surreal journey up the river to meet Mr. Kurtz, and along the way Willard meets strange characters, who have something in common.
There are many themes present in the film, but the one I'll bring up is how war changes everyone. There are a wide variety of different personalities that you see Willard run across, but all of them share the common bond that the war either has already changed them or it will change them during the course of the movie. It's not just Kurtz who has gone crazy due to all the time in the jungle. Regrettably, some of the people who worked on the film suffered a bitter irony of also being negatively changed by the experience of working on this movie. The excellent documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (which I will see again soon so I can give it a review) gives all the gory details but notably, Martin Sheen suffered a heart attack and almost died, and I am not surprised that Francis Ford Coppola has never directed a movie of this caliber again."
This afternoon, I saw The Final Cut version of the film on not only an IMAX screen (this past Thursday and today were the only days this is showing in IMAX; it's an advertisement for all versions of AN coming out in 4K UHD later this month) but a legit old-school giant IMAX screen. Needless to say, that was an opportunity I could not refuse, and it was incredible seeing and hearing it that way, even if it seems like some auditoriums are engaging in a “loudness war” above all else when it comes to sound.
An epic movie like this, it is best appreciated in a BIG way. Concerning the Redux version: like with many out there, “the plantation scenes” are not as strong as the rest. That segment is in this cut, although I hear it's streamlined so it was not as deathly long as I recall it being. At least those bits are not awful by any means and it does have some nice music... seeing it theatrically helped me better appreciate both the cinematography and the synth-heavy score.
I've been fortunate to see many all-time classics on the big screen in my life, many of which have come due to revival screenings like this one. I am glad this was better received than when I saw 2001 last August w/ an audience of cretins-yet for some reason I was not surprised when the two tools sitting by me left before this was over AND did not take their trash with them.
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