captain willard ( martin sheen ) have be send on a classified mission into cambodia during the vietnam war to assassinate colonel kurtz ( marlon brando ) a he have go completely insane and be no longer take order . and since kurtz be one of the most decorated men in the armed force and it be hard for capt . willard to understand how col. kurtz could go off the deep end a he have and kill without clearance and take the war into his own hand . what possibly could have push this great man over the top . through willard long journey through the jungle to find his target and he try with some success to understand why . but what will he decide to do once he find him . any movie that can start out with the door the end be a great movie in my book and especially if it can flow with the mood and imagery show with the song . apocalypse now do this perfectly . i can not think of anything well for it to be set to and the vietnam war and the insanity in the soliders mind that it create . an be a dark and brutal story about a long journey through some of the hairy jungle in vietnam and the ultimate destination of which be murder . through it use of music and score alone and we be throw into a dark world of mystery and violence and and insanity . a perfect example of how to set mood through music alone be this film right here . an overall great cast and with the exception of laurence fishburne and of which sheen and brando give u more than enough act skill to spread around on our movie desire bread . i just do not like fishburne and ever since i find out he be cowboy curtis in peewee playhouse my contempt and hatred for this man have increase ten fold . i realize the pettiness of this but i simply do not care . we need to sick gary oldman on him . brando be excellent a col. kurtz and i can not think of any other actor that could have play the good man go insane and hold such screen presence . sheen be also fun to watch a willard and we can identify with his questioning of his mission and the war in general . my favorite character in the movie have to be robert duvall lt. colonel kilgore . before this film i never picture duvall a a wartime cowboy but honestly it my favorite of his part to date . he simply nail his character and which be one of the best in the entire film and a the gung ho air cavalry commander who love to surf . maybe a little over the top but still brilliant . i also love the smell of napalm in the morning . the plot be a fairly simple one and it doesn not take too much brainpower to figure out what go on . willard mission be to kill kurtz and plain and simple . but it the journey of the film that be really it heart and also the dire situation of war itself . in the redux version we be force to sit through the extended french plantation scene and the playboy bunny scene which really add nothing to the film entirety other than it make it a longer journey . i do not feel they take away anything though and it just a matter of if you want to watch a three and a half hour movie or the original . through this journey and the film point out the utter futility and irrelevance of the war to the american and the massive effect it have on the soldier who fight in it . in fact and that the entire point . on top of that and the troop be not support by the public and that could very well have help cause a character like kurtz to go completely mad . a big war movie lover and this one be up there with platoon and the deer hunter and all of them classic . i sometimes try to compare film of the same genre to one another but it have get me in trouble in the past in my review a i have have to go back on what i have say . all three have their own strength and add their own twist to the vietnam war . so to really say one be good than the other be fairly pointless . even if after have most recently view an i think it a tad well . in the end and apocalypse now be a true classic in either version and worthy of the status it be give . a a fellow reviewer have previously state and an be one of the most ambitious film ever make .