"There is no way to tell his story without telling my own."

[swashbuckler332]

Francis Ford Coppola designed Apocalypse Now as a completely subjective experience. He wanted to immerse the audience into his mythic journey through the eyes and ears of Captain Willard (Martin Sheen), and to that end he created some of the most awe-inspiring imagery and broke new ground in sound design. His maniacal attention to detail and (at

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[swashbuckler332]

The extended version of Aliens isn't a "director's cut" as the theatrical version of the film was assembled by Cameron himself and (as with Redux) never intended to supplant the original version. That said, I tend to feel that there are many more dramatic compensations in the special edition of Aliens than there are in Apocalypse Now Redux. You may find certain elements that don't work as well in either version (for example, the relationship between Ripley and Newt is much more fleshed out in the extended version, which raises the stakes in the finale), but both versions of the film are viable storytelling.

I think that much of the material in Apocalypse Now Redux undercuts what was so effective in the original cut. Willard is an observer, the only time you see him act decisively is when he is furthering his mission, so I found his stealing Kilgore's surfboard to be out of character. Furthermore, Kilgore himself, such a chilling presence in the original version of the film especially with his haunting final line, is reduced to a buffoon as the napalm strike blows out the wind and he chases the surfboard.

John Milius himself has said he preferred the film without the second appearance of the he Playboy bunnies, and while these scenes are fun, Willard's involvement is problematic here too (again, he works best as an observer), but also I don't think the broad comedy sits well in context of the rest of the film. The French Plantation scene contains a lot of information that the film worked just fine without and is ultimately dead weight. Worse, its place in the narrative undercuts the downward spiral of Willard's journey into Cambodia.

I actually liked what few expansions there were of Kurtz, though. There are even some more scenes with him on the Blu-ray that are fascinating as well.