Amazon Prime viewers will be pleased to learn that one of “the best war films of all time” is currently streaming on the platform. Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American psychological epic war film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who also directed The Godfather. Apocalypse Now is set in South Vietnam and Cambodia at the height of the Vietnam War.
The film is a loose adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, and it relays Conrad’s use of a river journey from South Vietnam to Cambodia as a trip into the most burrowing reaches of the human psyche. Martin Sheen stars as a special-ops soldier, Captain Willard, charged with ending the career of the abusive Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando).
The film’s synopsis reads: “In Vietnam in 1970, Captain Willard (Sheen) takes a perilous and increasingly hallucinatory journey upriver to find and terminate Colonel Kurtz (Brando), a once-promising officer who has reportedly gone completely mad. In the company of a Navy patrol boat filled with street-smart kids, a surfing-obsessed Air Cavalry officer (Robert Duvall), and a crazed freelance photographer (Dennis Hopper), Willard travels further and further into the heart of darkness.”
Apocalypse Now was nominated for many awards and won several, most notably the Academy Award, BAFTA, and Golden Globe for Best Director.
Rotten Tomatoes critics have given the film a 90% rating, whereas the audience rates it at 94%.
“Francis Ford Coppola has made a magnificent movie – not necessarily apocalyptic, but definitely a humane exploration of a most inhumane topic,” a critic on Rotten Tomatoes wrote.
In IMDb’s listing, The Top 25 Greatest War Movies of All Time (The Ultimate List), Apocalypse Now comes out on top.
One fan on Reddit hailed it as the “best war film”.
A Google reviewer said: “Apocalypse Now is an absolute masterpiece that deserves every bit of praise that it has received. From the stunning visuals to the incredible performances, everything about this film is top-notch.”
“The direction: Francis Ford Coppola’s direction is absolutely masterful. Every shot in this film is meticulously crafted to convey a sense of dread and chaos,” another reviewer added.
Apocalypse Now is available to stream on Amazon Prime now.