Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1576 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-04-22
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, French, Vietnamese
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 194 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
In the tradition of such obsessively driven directors as Erich von Stroheim and Werner Herzog, Francis Ford Coppola approached the production of Apocalypse Now as if it was his own epic mission into the heart of darkness. On location in the storm-ravaged Philippines, he quite literally went mad as the project threatened to devour him in a vortex of creative despair but from this insanity came one of the greatest films ever made. It began as a John Milius screenplay, transposing Joseph Conrad's classic story "Heart of Darkness" into the horrors of the Vietnam War, following a battle-weary Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) on a secret upriver mission to find and execute the renegade Colonel Kurtz(Marlon Brando), who has reverted to a state of murderous and mystical insanity. The journey is fraught with danger involving war-time action on epic and intimate scales. One measure of the film's awesome visceral impact is the number of sequences, images and lines of dialogue that have literally burned themselves into our cinematic consciousness, from the Wagnerian strike of helicopter gunships on a Vietnamese village to the brutal murder of stowaways and the unflinching fearlessness of the surfing warrior Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duvall), who speaks lovingly of "the smell of napalm in the morning." Like Herzog's Aguirre: The Wrath of God, this film is the product of genius cast into a pit of hell and emerging, phoenix-like, in triumph. Coppola's obsession (effectively detailed in the riveting documentary Hearts of Darkness, directed by Coppola's wife, Eleanor) informs every scene and every frame, and the result is a film for the ages. --Jeff Shannon

Amazon.co.uk Review
Following the example set by his old pals Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola has revisited a classic that no-one ever thought needed enhancement and produced Apocalypse Now Redux, a remastered and extended version of his hallucinogenic Vietnam nightmare that adds some 50 minutes of extra material. On the plus side, certain extended sequences--such as Kilgore's bombing-cum-surfing raid and the final battle of nerves between Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando--add greater depth to our appreciation of the film. On the debit side, the lengthy French plantation interlude and the squalid fate of the Playboy bunnies simply underscore what we already know about war and hell and the depressing futility of it all. It's possible that Apocalyspe Now is not really about Vietnam at all, but is in fact a despairing commentary on the dissolution of contemporary American society; it's also possible that Apocalypse Now Redux, for all its epic scale and visceral power, ultimately fails to make the film's real message any clearer than before. Either way, it remains one of the greatest (anti-)war films ever made.

On the DVD: Apocalypse Now Redux is self-recommending on DVD, especially with vividly remastered Dolby 5.1 sound (the whirling helicopter blades are dizzying) and an anamorphic widescreen picture. Disappointingly the disc contains no extra features other than a trailer for the Redux version. Coppola has provided excellent commentaries for his Godfather trilogy so it's a shame not to have his comments here; and the justly famous "Heart of Darkness" documentary is conspicuous by its absence, too. --Mark Walker

DVD Description
With 49 additional minutes of never-before-seen footage, Oscar-winning director Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather Part II) presents this definitive, all-new director's cut of this groundbreaking motion picture epic. Honoured with nine 1979 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, it's a powerful cinematic journey featuring Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen and Laurence Fishburne in a stellar cast. Also starring Robert Duvall, Harrison Ford and Dennis Hopper, Apocalypse Now Redux is not merely an extended version of a big-screen classic it is a completely re-thought, re-mixed and re-edited interpretation of a film widely considered one of the greatest movies ever made.

Customer Reviews

A good film yes, but is it really a war film?
A watched this film for only the second time yesterday, the first viewing I remember very little about, the second viewing will certainly be more memorable for me, this film is very much a Martin Sheen film, Marlon Brando is hardly even in it so why he "stars" in it is beyond me, at best he's a supporting actor and not much more than an extra.

The one thing that struck me though was that this film is listed as one of the greatest war films ever, this film is nothing more than an assassination film, with a small amount of war thrown in, yes it's set during a war, but if it's action, guns, planes, ships, explosions that you're looking for then you'll find very little of it here.

Martin Sheen and the ever impressive Robert Duvall are on fine firm, but half an hour of this film could have been cut and you'd probably not notice it, for me it's a film to catch every now and then, but as for purchasing, no way, it's good, but not that good.

REDUX: EVERY MINUTE OF ADDED MATERIAL IS THERE FOR A REASON
A lot has been written about this extended version, particularly by comparing it with the original theatrical release, with some scenes - especially the meeting with French settlers - described as "out of step with the story". I believe that this criticism is completely missing the point. The inclusion of the "French" scene is one of the key elements of the film's philosophy, which is otherwise not easily perceived beyond the somewhat flatter original. Apocalypse Now Redux is also more than just a "story" - twenty years after its creation, this film has become an institution and a reference point, and can by no means be viewed any more as a mere movie.

The aforementioned is the only scene that explicitly voices the pointlessness of the American invasion, and war as a concept, which was to be one of the major ideological forces behind the film's ethos - this is Coppola's statement and the scene is just an instrument that perfectly transmits the idea. Also my impression - with regards to the other added scenes - is that Redux not only expands the philosophical and spiritual aspect of this epic but brings this Mother of all war films to the more mature, contemporary viewing. This, in relation to the present occupation of Iraq, makes it also a sinister prediction of things to come.

A pure film; relentless, unflinching and time approved masterpiece that hits hard but ultimately rewards any viewer prepared to accept its timeless message. Needless to say that, for a typical cinemagoer that in this day and age "enjoys" a contemporary diet of the Hollywood war, horror and gangstahh flicks, which often treat a viewer as an idiot, Apocalypse Now will be an incredible challenge, particularly given its surreal overtones. However given one large and VERY comfortable chair, a locked-up girlfriend/boyfriend, more than three continuous hours to spare, a minimum of diagonal 32" of flat plasma, powerful Surround and wide open eyes and mind, I guarantee that same viewer an unforgettable and illuminating experience!

SELF-APPRECIATIVE TRIPE
I am aware that I am possibly the only person on the planet who will not be writing a glowing review of this 'film', and my lack of intellectual commendation and well timed media-luvvie styled praise (intermitently injected into barely comprehendable sentences celebrating 'enigmatic' & 'tormented' charactes - who don't get machettied for the sake of entertainment - in an 'abnormality of... colour spectrum' through a film with 'buried symbology' and 'intricate soundscapes that blend dialogue', with 'profound transformation', ending with a product that 'time has only served to intensify [regarding] its transcendent force' and similar drivel) will likely not be well recieved. However, if you find the 'interseption of a ritualized slaughter' of a bull, pig, or any other living thing for that matter, an enjoyable inclusion for 'good measure' as another reviewer has put it, and that a man would include such grotesque and sickening action for the purpose of making his film feel more 'unusual' acceptable - then go ahead, watch this movie. Join the plethora of inhumane beings that don't appear to get the irony of their reviews. Celebrating the murder of a living thing for pure shock factor (oh sorry, I meant artistry) whilst droaning on about the 'intensity' and 'horror' of what are, lets face it - actors... and if you do 'enjoy' it... and agree with the rest of the 69 pages of praise, I'm sure there are some snuff movies you would also enjoy when you're done salavating over this tripe. I personally, would rather suck the snot out of my babies nose daily, than ever subject myself to the self-gratifying practices of a film-maker who values his 'art' so highly, that such horrifying suffering is seen as an acceptable means to an end. Other that that - the films rather good.