Apocalypse Now: Final Cut 4k

[Barry]

Apocalypse Now: Final Cut

The era of home video has brought an era of director’s being able to deliver a film closer to what they wanted and not just what the studios wanted.  Many discs are just re-releases with added material that was rightfully cut, but they stick a “Director’s Cut” label on it, when it is really not.

But some movies are legitimately re edited.  James Cameron explained in his Director’s cut that often the cuts are made for length. He was contracted to deliver a movie no longer than 125 minutes so ten good minutes, were cut.

In recent times we have seen great reissues of Superman, Dark City, Close Encounters and even Frankenstein and King Kong.

Forty years ago Apocalypse Now appeared in movie theatres and it was a “studio” cut. It was loosely based on the 1899 story “Hearts of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad. It was confusing because was a surreal view of the Viet Nam war. (Something Kubrick also did in Full Metal Jacket) But it did not have much of an explanation to what was happening. So it was a bit puzzling to watch.

Martin Sheen travels up a river in the Viet Nam war to meet and assassinate  an American Colonel who has gone over the edge. Sheen’s voyage through Viet Nam at the height of the war is a major p[art of the film. His confrontation with Brando is a compelling second part.

The next cut on blu-ray was: Apocalypse Now Redux which was 50 minutes longer than the original.  This added more of the surreal scenes, but in a much better context. But the pacing was off. It took long to tell the story and so many of the new scenes were too long and irrelevant. Let me stress the irrelevant part.

Apocalypse Now Final Cut has an intro by the director Francis Ford Coppolla where he explains the differences between the three movies.  This movie better adds some the original left out scenes but the edited versions are so much better. 

This movie is three hours 15 minutes. It shorter than redux and ten minutes longer than the original. The extra time adds so much more.  It is an unusual and vivid viewing experience on 4k. The soundtrack is outstanding and one of the best I have heard.

The set comes with 6 discs, including the great documentary on it's making, "Hearts of Darkness."

[TRainH2O]

Apocalypse Now is a great film but I only own (and have seen) the original cut. Thanks for the explanation of the three different releases. 

I may add it to my wish list if you think it adds a lot to the story.

[AVSCraig]

I have the 4K disc - can't wait to watch this ! 

[David Vaughn]

I could never get into this film. I've seen it twice and didn't like it either time

[TRainH2O]

I could never get into this film. I've seen it twice and didn't like it either time

It's one that I have to be in the mood to watch. To me, it's not an "I want to watch a fun check you brain film" for sure.

[Barry]

Thats for sure

[AVSCraig]

It's one that I have to be in the mood to watch. To me, it's not an "I want to watch a fun check you brain film" for sure.

It is pretty much the best Vietnam war movie other than " We Were Soldiers ". You need to be in the mood for a hardcore war movie. Sometimes I am - seeing as I have a pretty good size war movie section - 49 war films plus Band of Brothers and The Pacific. 

[David Vaughn]

It is pretty much the best Vietnam war movie other than " We Were Soldiers ". You need to be in the mood for a hardcore war movie. Sometimes I am - seeing as I have a pretty good size war movie section - 49 war films plus Band of Brothers and The Pacific.

I like "We Were Soldiers."

[Barry]

I like "We Were Soldiers."

I also liked Blackhawk Down, Forrest Gump, Good Morning Vietnam, Full Metal Jacket and Gardens of Stone

[David Vaughn]

I also liked Blackhawk Down, Forrest Gump, Good Morning Vietnam, Full Metal Jacket and Gardens of Stone

Me too, except for Gardens of Stone--never even heard of that one. In fact, I just bought Good Morning Vietnam for $5.99 at Best Buy on Saturday night. 

[Barry]

Me too, except for Gardens of Stone--never even heard of that one. In fact, I just bought Good Morning Vietnam for $5.99 at Best Buy on Saturday night.

Check it out. It is another movie by Coppolla

[TRainH2O]

I haven't heard of Gardens of Stone either. I'll have to check it out.

[Barry]

I thought about this last night and wanted to adD some comments to my review.
 
Apocalypse Now is a surreal, brutal movie that is not for the faint hearted.  It is not a movie I will watch often. But I wanted to give an example of the differences between the three versions and not just time.
 
Redux added about fifty minutes to the running time of the original, Final Cut cuts that in half.
 
When it was first released I had read that the original cut a segment that had Playboy bunnies.  I was curious about that and that long segment appeared in Redux.  In Redux, the segment was about the Bunnies entertaining at a GI base in Viet Nam.  At first it showed the contrast of the “modern” American army and American way of life with the ancient, religious way of life of the Vietnamese. We liked to think of ourselves as the “top” of civilization, but his showed how much weren’t. But it did contrast our way of living with theirs.
 
But the segment became distracting and almost irrelevant as it went on and on.  It was a long enough movie and this segment seemed to detour from the premise, the mission of the movie. Eventually its length made it a distraction.
 
This was cured in Final Cut. The segment was left in but, timewise, was cut in half, maybe more. (I didn’t time it!) Also a subplot or two regarding this segment, included in Redux, was left out.  The entire movie made more sense and was paced better.
 
This movie is compelling because you want to find out what the hell is happening and what is going on. Is this a great movie? No, I don’t think so, but if you like movies you should see this, but maybe just once.