Already Breaking Promises

I know I promised Conversations or The Simpsons Movie next, but that is not to be. Both this weekend, promise. As it is I unexpectedly saw Apocalypse Now! for the first time, and it is more heavily on my mind.

Apocalypse Now!
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Featuring: Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, Lawrence Fishburne
IMDb

Synopsis: A soldier/assassin (Sheen) in the Vietnam War is sent up a dangerous river to find and assassinate a rogue US Corporal (Brando).


This movie defines what a war movie should be. Though I don't consider myself a fan per say of the genre as a whole, I have had the opportunity to see many over the years. This one, quite simply, leaves them all behind. Infinitely quotable ("I love the smell of napalm in the morning... smells like victory"), it manages to recreate the time and the chaos of the war, as well as artistically manipulating it for the director's purposes. It has an intriguing plot, and powerful characterizations.

Marlon Brando is typically the actor talked about most when this movie is discussed, and with good reason. While he only appears in the late half of the film, his character is deranged, much as Brando himself became late in life, but to the point that he is dangerous. And yet, it is only when he himself recognizes that he is a danger that Sheen can manage to actually go through the act that he was sent to do. And let's put it this way: Brando is easily one of the greatest actors that ever lived. I have long believed this, and thought that I had evidence enough: The Godfather, Streetcar Named Desire, Don Juan DeMarco, even his last film, The Score, when the man had completely lost it to the point that he had to be directed in the voice of Miss Piggy. This film holds the final proof: the oft mocked line "The horror... the horror..." This line is nothing without the rest of the film, and is ridiculous out of context. But even then, any lesser actor with this line to die on would have made the entire movie a joke. Only an actor of the caliber of Brando can make you hear that line at that time and not burst out laughing. Simply fantastic.

There is not a war movie made that can affect its viewer in the same way that this film can. Others can show the reality, the romanticism, the victory, the defeat, but only this one truly shows the horror. And that is the harshest reality of them all.

Direction: 5
Artistic Vision: 5
Acting: 5
Production Design: 4
Cultural Relevance: 5
Overall: 10/10