This is probably the most famous anti-war movie of all times. It's in the IMDb top50, but definitely not in my top50. However, I still thought it was a good film. Especially Robert Duvall (Kilgore) succeeds in displaying the insanity of war as he treats combat like a painting, plays classic music to the horrendous scenes and has his guys surfing at the same time. Excellent portrayal. He was the much better Coppola reunion in this movie and the Golden Globe and BAFTA wins were absolutely deserving. And when there is no visual horror...horror (e.g. A severed head or the death of the character played by the very young Laurence Fishburne), we hear people talking about it, for example Kurtz' story on severed children's arms.
The redux version of the movie runs for considerably over 3 hours, about 200 minutes, and I would lie if I said there was not a single moment when it dragged. It did, occasionally, for example when they meet the French guys. I could have done without that part. The cast is pretty spectacular. Apart from everybody I already mentioned, there's also Dennis Hopper, Harrison Ford and Frederic Forrest in this movie, all 3 Academy Award nominees themselves. It's an interesting take on soldiers' lives during this difficult time. But apart from all the brutal battle scenes and (during one scene) the unsuccessful longing for leadership, we also see a bunch of playboy bunnies giving the troops some pleasure with their mere presence.
The redux version of the movie runs for considerably over 3 hours, about 200 minutes, and I would lie if I said there was not a single moment when it dragged. It did, occasionally, for example when they meet the French guys. I could have done without that part. The cast is pretty spectacular. Apart from everybody I already mentioned, there's also Dennis Hopper, Harrison Ford and Frederic Forrest in this movie, all 3 Academy Award nominees themselves. It's an interesting take on soldiers' lives during this difficult time. But apart from all the brutal battle scenes and (during one scene) the unsuccessful longing for leadership, we also see a bunch of playboy bunnies giving the troops some pleasure with their mere presence.