Movie #174 - Apocalypse Now

Title: Apocalypse Now

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Release Year: 1979

Plot Summary: During the on-going Vietnam War, Captain Willard is sent on a dangerous mission into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade Green Beret who has set himself up as a God among a local tribe.

Thoughts: Man, I love the book Heart of Darkness. With that in mind - coupled with the fact that this is probably one of the best-known war films of all time - I was really really ready to love this movie too. Damn, what a disappointment.

It started out well enough, I suppose. Guy gets sent on mission that will take him to the "heart of darkness," in this case the heart of the Vietnam War, and things get progressively more horrific and viscerally disturbing. Unfortunately, by the time Martin Sheen actually reaches his objective, the movie has devolved into a disjointed, inexplicable mess that I found pretty well impossible to care about. Which I suppose is sort of the point of the whole metaphor, when it comes down to it. I just thought it was poorly done, is all. ~shrug~

Recommendations: Meh. I'd go with Full Metal Jacket over this one, hands down.