Apocalypse Now

With his depiction of the war in Vietnam, Coppola managed to show all of the influences that slowly turned a regular man into a deranged madman. The dark aura built around Colonel Walter E. Kurtz is entrancing and Coppola’s style of gradually revealing his personality is just perfect. Also equally perfect is Marlon Brando himself who in his acting shaves the essence of man down to the marrow in his acting. Martin Sheen as Captain Willard superbly captured the transformation of a person scarred by war. His dilemma and inability to live as before. A breathtaking experience. A masterpiece. (12/01/2006)

I've been looking forward to this film for a long time. And it didn't disappoint me one bit. I've seen the director's cut, which is extra long but worth it. This is a beautiful example of the madness of war turning into a journey into the depths of the human soul. It’s incredibly dark with great performances and breathtaking direction. (11/19/2015)

A perfectly apt title for one of the most intense and memorable films about the Vietnam War. The iconic Martin Sheen as Captain Willard is subjected to what is essentially a double apocalypse in a hard-to-describe atmosphere of Vietnamese hell that at times resembles surreal imagery. For, apart from the external dangers, he is forced to face a stiff internal battle with himself to save not only his neck but also his sanity. Martin Sheen's acting, with his expression often oscillating precisely between total madness and fickle sanity, is simply phenomenal. Art-wise, Apocalypse Now is a total triumph (especially on an OLED TV in UHD), and the surfing sequence with Robert Duvall will probably stay with me forever. (10/27/2020)

Conrad's “Heart of Darkness” is one of those timeless books, and it's not bad at all. It is all the more remarkable that Coppola's adaptation does not fall short in any respect, it even surpasses it in many ways. At least in the director's cut, it is an equally riveting probe through the darkness of the soul and madness. (09/14/2006)

A thought-provoking and emotional opus that is unparalleled in the world of cinema and that lives up to its name not only because of everything that happened during the shooting, but mainly because it actually added a completely new, spiritual dimension to the concept of the Apocalypse. The horror and futility of war in all its glory, supported by masterful direction, unbelievable performances and the best cinematography I have ever seen in a film. Naturalism of the coarsest grain, which makes it hard to breathe and makes our conscience so hungry that we have to think for a long time about what and HOW we just saw, heard and FELT. BEST OF THE BEST:-) 100% (09/25/2013)