I know I’ve said this about a number of classic films now (you may be wondering if I even know what I’m talking about when it comes to movies) but I haven’t seen Apocalypse Now. Its the kind of movie that sits in the same place of reverence as Pulp Fiction or Taxi Driver. So when the opportunity arose to review Apocalypse Now I leapt at it. And I haven’t regretted it at all. Apocalypse Now is a hands down classic. 

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In Vietnam in 1970, Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) takes a perilous and increasingly hallucinatory journey upriver to find and terminate Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a once-promising officer who has reportedly gone completely mad. In the company of a Navy patrol boat filled with street-smart kids, a surfing-obsessed Air Cavalry officer (Robert Duvall), and a crazed freelance photographer (Dennis Hopper), Willard travels further and further into the heart of darkness.

 

Its not the solid, central performance from Martin Sheen and every scene that Marlon Brando steals even though they are magnificent and its not the production problems that plagued the production that pushed it into myth that makes Apocalypse Now the classic that it is. Its the fact that this is a film which delves into the psyche of one man as he tries to navigate the depths of his soul as it is pummeled by war. Its a beautiful yet terrifying experience and is one of the few films that brings us as audience members kicking and screaming into a hint of what it may be to endure a war zone. 

 

A classic in every sense of the word you should head out and grab a copy of Apocalypse Now. Right now.