Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam-era update of Joseph Conrad’s seminal novel 'Heart of Darkness', Apocalypse Now is an hallucinogenic trip into the jungles of the Far East. It is also occasionally flaccid, incomprehensible and obtuse. Yet, it manages to overcome these flaws to stand as a fascinating study of the nature of evil in man.
Coppola’s epic begins, ironically enough, with the strains of The Door’s gloomy The End. Captain Willard (Martin Sheen - merely adequate in this demanding role) gets his orders to travel into the Cambodian jungles and "terminate with extreme prejudice" Colonel Kurtz, a madman waging a personal war with the Vietnamese using native troops who also happen to worship him as a god. Willard argues that killing Kurtz for his deeds "was like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500."
It is Willard’s journey up the river that forms the central metaphor (it is a physical, emotional and spiritual pilgrimage). Every scene with Col. Kilgore (Robert Duvall) is great: from his "surf or fight" orders, to his command to play Wagner’s Flight of the Valkyries to freak out the peaceful Vietnamese village they are about to nuke, to his classic napalm speech. The movie’s most effective and revolting scene is a gruesome allusion to the Mylai massacre, as a boatload of villagers are slaughtered by Willard and his men.
Unfortunately, the journey is more interesting than the destination. Even a drug addled, frenzied Dennis Hopper cannot lift the scenes at Kurtz’ (Marlon Brando) camp to the level of the rest of the film. Brando seems sedated, rather than morally bankrupt and weary. Why would anyone worship him as a god? Thus, there’s little suspense in the confrontation between Willard and Kurtz.
How can there be great fear if there is not also immeasurable loathing? It is a shame to end such a great journey with this misstep.
