I finally watched Apocalypse Now Redux and boy was it ever! I liked it so much in fact, that I read the book it was based on: Heart of Darkness. Apocalypse Now adapts the book's plot to fit into the Vietnam war. This was because Joseph Conrad wrote the book in 1899; before the advent of the Vietnam war. Originally, the story took place in the Congo on a steamship. There are, however, some major differences between the movie and the book. The main character was not sent to kill Kurtz, for one, and the ending is completely different between the two. Conrad's writing style was perticuarly annoying to me, because of the combined effects of his unique style and the fact that it was written in the late 19th century. This made it hard to stay focused for me and continue reading without trailing off mindlessly. I have read other books of around this time period, but Conrad's style was more different than the others. On the other hand, it was a very interesting book when I got focused and into it. Apocalypse Now was easy to stay focused on altogether. Some might say this is because it is a movie, and you don't really have to do any work to stay focused. It's hard to believe that Francis Coppola's Apocalypse Now was made in 79'. The movie has a look to it that makes it appear to be extremely recent; much better looking than nearly every movie today even. Everything about the movie was top notch and it's obvious that it required a massive budjet. I'm glad they went through the effor though, because we are now left with a classic.
Apocalypse Now: 4 1/2 stars out of 5*.
Heart of Darkness: 7 stars out of 10**.
*I couldn't decide between 4 1/2 stars or 5. It was tough.
** Because most books I read are of good quality, I rate them on a more percise scale. If I used the 5 star method, they would all be about 4 or 5s and that would be annoying.
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