Apocalypse Now Review

My life will never be the same after seeing this movie. I feel as if it showed me things that I should not have. I'm actually sick to my stomach writing this. This movie is not for the faint of heart, and most likely not those with good constitution too. It's not a gung-ho, hooray America movie. It makes Saving Private Ryan look like child's play. The amount of violence, torture, and gruesome scenes shocked me worse than any scene in a movie I had ever seen. It didn't help that I had no idea who the good guys were. The movie uses characters that you can't root for, and yet cannot abandon either. Martin Sheen plays the title character who takes us on a mind bending journey into Vietnam to kill a madman. I don't want to spoil anything else from there. This movie is a trip. With an amazing score and a soundtrack that is killer you get sucked into the movie. It dunks you straight into Vietnam and you don't leave until its over. Hell, I'm still there. Sweeping scenes on napalm hitting the jungle to bodies hanging from ropes make you feel the terror and sickness. The contrast of the soldier's attitudes and ideas of war versus what the reality of it is, is enough to make you want to lie down for a bit. To be honest, my brain is a little scrambled, between the gore, violence, and philosophy it makes me want to cry out "The horror...the horror". Unless you're looking for a two and a half hour movie to wade through in the depths of your mind, this movie is not for you. In fact, I don't know if it was for me. But it was good. So good. It makes you appreciate it even more if you go to IMDB and read the trivia section about all the trials and tribulations this movie had. Even the production itself was rocky. A Vietnam in itself you might say. For example, extraneous noises made it impossible to use the audio in some shots (like from helicopters) and actors then had to voice over later in a studio. I can't comprehend watching the Redux version as this movie. More of this movie would make my brain melt. I feel like I just took a philosophy class for a whole day. Anyway, I'm rambling more than Brando, I give this movie Five out of Five Napalms in the Morning.
Sidenote: This movie is Man versus Himself. All over the place. Every character versus himself.