memfree's Journal: Apocalypse Now Redux: you must make a friend of horror

Saw the re-release of Apocalypse Now, and liked it better than the original. Having a bizarre scene before the boat got very far up river helped on two points. For the scene following it.

1) It gave Chief (boat's capt. a reason to be pissed at Willard), and
2) It gave Willard more reason to think our troops were .... well, foolish.

While I think the original would have been enhanced by it's inclusion, I would have cut it when the crew started unloading fuel. It drags after that point. Granted, there are nice things to look at in the rest, but it doesn't add to the story.

The additions to the Kilgore related scenes were alright, but (again) didn't move the story much. I read a review that complained that that section detracted from the movie because it makes Willard seem more like a class clown, bt I disagree. I thought the point was to show Willard's objection to Kilgore's emphasis on recreation, and to a lesser extent, to show that Willard would determine his own standards for justice (in this case, by stealing).

The French scene didn't do much for me. It seemed that a better edit could have done there, but since the point of the re-release was to include additional footage, it wasn't unacceptable.

Additional gore was limited, and oddly beautiful. I approve.

The additional scenes with Kurtz were great. I've no complaint with seeing Kurtz in full light. I did not think it diminished his dark, and shadowed aura. In fact, I thought it showed the character's (and the actor's) intelligence better than the brief scenes where he's partially obscured.

In short, I recommend it to anyone who liked the original. Depending on your interpretation of the original, you may find that the new version has a different tone. Regardless, I think it is more solid, and better.