'Apocalypse Now: Full Disclosure" Blu-ray box set review

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(C) 2010 Paramount Pictures


Apocalypse Now: Full Disclosure Box Set (2010)

Kilgore: I love the smell of napalm in the morning.

Many film critics and movie lovers consider director Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam War movie Apocalypse Now to be one of the best war movies ever made. The late Roger Ebert hailed Coppola’s original version as “one of the key films of the century,” while Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers calls the longer 2001 Apocalypse Now Redux “one for the ages when it comes to the moral battles of war.”

In Apocalypse Now, Coppola and screenwriter John Milius (Red Dawn) take Joseph Conrad’s 1902 Africa-set novella Heart of Darkness and carried it forward in time to the hellish jungles of Southeast Asia.  The filmmakers depict 1960s era helicopter gunships flying into battle accompanied by Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” and change the narrator’s name from Marlow to Capt. Willard. 

However, they keep Conrad’s haunting vision of a nightmarish boat journey up a long, winding river into the dark heart of a jungle in search of a man who has descended into madness.

Apocalypse Now and its extended 2001 version Apocalypse Now Redux have been released on various home video formats, including DVD and Blu-ray discs.

Apocalypse Now: Full Disclosure

The latest and best release is Liongate’s 2010 Apocalypse Now: Full Disclosure box set. Produced in cooperation with Paramount Pictures and overseen by Francis Ford Coppola, this three-disc set includes the original 1979 classic, its superb enhanced and longer 2001 version, plus two discs of extra features that includes Eleanor Coppola’s magnificent 1991 documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse.

For fans of the 1979 theatrical version of Apocalypse Now, the Blu-ray release is the best version yet released.  The high definition transfer was carefully done and, like Paramount’s The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration, presents the film with the best picture and sound quality possible.

More importantly, this is the first home video release of Apocalypse Now that restores the film’s original aspect ratio. Previous releases, especially the VHS pan-and-scan and laser disc versions, cropped the aspect ratio from the movie’s 2:39:1 to 4:3:1 (pan-and-scan or full screen) to 2:1 (widescreen laser disc). On the Blu-ray release, the aspect ratio is 2:35:1, which is more faithful to Vittorio Storaro’s cinematography.

The Apocalypse Now: Full Disclosure set comes in a three-disc DigiPack with a visually appealing but somewhat flimsy slipcover. It also includes a 48-page collector’s booklet with an introduction by director Coppola, excerpts from the script, production sketches, and more.

This set is a worthy addition to any movie buff’s collection. It presents one of the classic films from the “New Hollywood” era in pristine high definition. Apocalypse Now: Full Disclosure’s treasury of extras is also a testament to the agony and ecstasy of filmmaking; Coppola’s struggles to make the movie are still the stuff of Hollywood legend, but they paid off beyond his wildest hopes.


Contents and Partial List of Special Features

Disc One
  • ·        Apocalypse Now – Original 2:35:1 aspect ratio
  • ·        Apocalypse Now Redux – Original 2:35:1 aspect ratio
  • ·        Audio commentary with director Francis Ford Coppola
  • ·        BD Touch and Metamenu Remote enabled for iPhone and iPad interactivity

Disc Two

  • ·        Video interview with Francis Ford Coppola and screenwriter John Milius
  • ·        Video interview with Francis Ford Coppola and actor Martin Sheen
  • ·        “Fred Roos: Casting Apocalypse”
  • ·        Original 1938 radio recording of Heart of Darkness by Orson Wells
  • ·        2001 video interview of Francis Ford Coppola with critic Roger Ebert – presented in its entirety
  • ·        Archival DVD special features

Disc Three

  • ·        Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse
  • ·        Audio commentary with Eleanor and Francis Ford Coppola
  • ·        John Milius script excerpts with notes by Francis Ford Coppola
  • ·        Storyboard gallery
  • ·        Marketing archive

Blu-ray Specifications

Video
  • Codec: MPEG-4 AVC (17.99 Mbps)
  • Resolution: 1080p
  • Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
  • Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1


Audio

  • English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)


Subtitles

  • English, English SDH, French, Spanish


Discs

  • 50GB Blu-ray Disc
  • Three-disc set (3 BDs)

Packaging
  • Slipcover in original pressing
  • DigiPack


Playback
  • Region free



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