THE MOVIE

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”

"The Horror........The Horror"

Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece Apocalypse Now was released to theatres back in 1979 after much hard work and surrounded by rumours that the film after years in production would never see the light of day. Not only did Coppolla release the film to prove the rumours false but it soon became a seminal war film that decades later would be considered as one of the best Vietnam war movies ever made.

After 20 years since the release of the theatrical cut, Coppola decided to release the entire uncut version of his film which he was initially forced to shorten to improve the flow and duration of the film among other reasons. Apocalypse Now Redux has some 49 minutes of additional footage inserted into the original cut pushing the film's length to a phenomenal 194min. This move by Coppola however has been met with considerable criticism by many critics and fans alike who claim that this new additional footage has had a considerable effect on the flow of the film while adding little to the original story. While I do not completely object to this premise I do think that parts of the additional footage have certainly hampered the flow of the film while others were a welcome addition. Not that the original cut was a perfect film by any means. The final act of the story at the Kurtz compound has always been a dissapointment for me given the remarkable preecedings before the compound is reached and Redux has left it completely unchanged.

Army Captain Willard (Martin Sheen), a veteran of the Vietnam war and on the verge of burnout receives an assignment to locate and execute a highly decorated US officer named Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando). One of the most admired officers of the army, Kurtz has seemingly become highly mentally unstable while on a mission in the jungle and refuses to obey any higher commands. He has renounced his entire life and has set his platoon up in amidst the natives. No longer under their control, the military wants him found and terminated with extreme prejudice. The rest of the film follows Willards journey to find Kurzt and the people he meets, the places he sees and the horrors of war he experiences.

The film is studded with an all-star cast and includes the likes of Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Martin Sheen, Harrison Ford, Dennis Hopper, and even a seventeen-year-old Laurence Fishburne.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

The aspect ratio of Apocalypse Now Redux is approximately 2.1:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. The aspect ratio of the film has been controversial since its early days. The original movie was shot and shown theatrically with a 2.35:1 ratio, however since the 70 mm version it has featured the slightly smaller aspect ratio. It is this aspect ratio that Coppola and cinematographer Vittorio Storaro have consistently approved for use on home video.

For a 23 year old print this video transfer stacks up very well. There is excellent sharpness in most scenes and the shadow detail works very well in all scenes including the darkest towards the end. The colours are quite dominated by green given the jungle location of much of the film and they are well rendered and vivid throughout. Apart from some grain and film artefacts the transfer is relatively clean.

It should also be noted that the additional footage added to the movie has been inserted to perfection with virtually no evidence that the footage was originally cut and first time viewers of the film will not be able to tell at all what the new footage is.

Audio:

The DVD contains an Eglish Dolby Digital 5.1 track that has been remastered from the original sound mix.

This is an impressive sound track for a film of its vintage. The choice of effects is excellent and enhances the on screen visuals greatly. There is almost consistent use of the surround channels throughout the film from ambient sounds to highly discreet effects. The low frequency effects were frequent and powerful and will put even the toughest subwoofers under strain.

Dialogue was mostly clear throughout the film with only a scene or two where the audio level was a hint on the low side.

This is a very impressive sound track especially given the limitations of recording technology when the film was shot over 23 years ago.

THE EXTRAS

With a feature running time of 194min much of the DVDs capacity is chewed up by the film with little left for extras. However Coppola has never been that keen on providing many extras for Apocalypse even in past releases hence why this isn't a 2 disc set. Still though our version of Redux contains more extras than the US version.

PBR Streetgang- Running for ~4min this is a behind the scenes look at the actors that worked with Willard on the boat up the river. Pretty good.

Apocalypse Then and Now - The famous film critic Roger Ebert interviews Coppola at the 2000 Cannes Film Fetival about Redux. It is followed by a look at the process of the editing of Redux. Very good and informative.

Destruction Of The Kurtz Compound- With a commentary by Coppola, this is a long sequence of the blowing up of the Kurtz compound that was initially featured during the end of the film's credits. Coppola explains that it initially caused considerable speculation that there was an alternate ending to the film but as he explains in the commentary there was a much simpler and less exciting answer to the existence of this footage.

Theatrical Trailer- Presented in 2.35:1 and Dolby Surround this is a reasonable trailer although the audio and video are quite dated.

SUMMARY

Redux has added almost an hour of extra footage to the original Apocalypse. I am glad to finally have seen this footage although not all of it worked well and at times actually affected the flow of the film. Controversy aside though it still remains a fine film presented on a DVD with exceptional video and audio for its age. Now if only Coppola released a 2 disc set version filled with extras and most importantly an audio commentary by himself....