Apocalypse Now - Redux MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +2 Content: -4

Director Francis Ford Coppola re-edited from scratch and added 50 minutes of footage for this new version of his 1979 Vietnam-era classic. As in the original, Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is on a mission to assassinate Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a presumably insane Green Beret living deep in the jungle. The mission starts with a bang thanks to the military muscle of seemingly bullet-proof Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duvall), as passionate about surfing as he is about killing the enemy. As Willard and his patchwork crew move up the river in search of Kurtz, they encounter everything from Playboy bunnies to rocket attacks to defiant French plantation owners. When Willard finally meets Kurtz, he struggles to determine if he is indeed a madman or a poet-warrior genius as his cult-like followers proclaim. Can Willard complete his mission or become entranced by the charismatic Kurtz. Film buffs will enjoy the Oscar-winning cinematography, Coppolas acclaimed directing, and performances by many of Hollywoods leading men, some before they were stars. But a limited release will likely hinder box office returns.

The few redeeming moral elements in this film include a soldier wearing a cross, a brief depiction of a battlefield mass, and a shot of a Bible among Col. Kurtz possessions. But these brief scenes are lost in a sea of obscenities, profanities, sexual content, and violence. Coppola has commented on the faade of society that teaches teens to kill in the military but wont let them use the f-word. Over 100 f-words flood the script along with 21 strong profanities. In one scene, Capt. Willard makes a deal to trade gasoline for sex with Playboy Bunnies traveling with the USO. Nudity and implied sex are featured. Severe and often graphic violence involves disturbing scenes of graphic battlefield wounds, the point-blank shooting of a woman, an impaling, a severed head, and the brutal machete hacking of a man and a cow. There is an underlying anti-war sentiment in the film, yet the stunning cinematography makes war aesthetically pleasing. Film historians, aspiring directors, and theater students may enjoy REDUX, but moviegoers who prefer morally sound, uplifting entertainment should look elsewhere.

Preview Reviewer: John Barber
Distributor: Miramax (Disney), 375 Greenwich, New York, NY, 10013