Apocalypse Now 4K UHD (1979)

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by steel_breeze

Thanks for the observations. Hmm... that might bug me as well, about the highlights washing out. They don't go cyan like 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY's SDR Blu-ray, do they? That kind of nonsense is unwatchable, for me.

Not at all, that phenom is pretty much endemic to Warners' remastering so this is fine. The brighter portions still carry a nice warmer looking tone in AN's new Blus, there's just not a lot of information contained therein.

[Sky_Captain]

Just finished the theatrical cut.

[Rick Grimes]

For me, I found that the bunnies, the French and the stealing of the surfboard add to the film, despite slowing it down, giving the film an “Epic” feel. While you know that the story could be pushed along, I don’t think it mires the film in too much exposition. The TC is just fine, but feels rushed after seeing Redux.

Never considered the smile and the surfboard nicking to be too off character because I saw Willard as a little disturbed, but your point is valid and I can see how it would feel disjointed and weak character development.

For me, I found it to be a reflection of the duality of war, the schizophrenic nature of being in combat, where one minute your a drunken wreck, then you can be tuned-up to be hard-a*s motherf*cker and then, your nicking a surfboard... And then, when you remember you got a job to do (taking down an unhinged charismatic psychopath), the hard-a*s front comes out. On reflection, I find Willard’s changes in demeanour mirrors Kurtz with his wild mood swings. Willard has his own demons, grappling with the things he has done as an assassin, killing on orders from the US government. When Willard goes tropical at the end, taking out Kurtz is cathartic. He is symbolically killing his dark side, accepting that he did these things because of the war, and now he can go back to the US and live some semblance of an existence. All things considered, one can accept that Willard will be a little f*cked up, with a persona that varies, dependant on the situation. Stealing the surfboard is a big “F*ck you” to the Lt. Colonel, since throughout the whole battle to get to the river mouth, it seems like Willard is staring at Bill thinking “Your not just mad, your f*cking dangerous”. While Willard was using him as a means to an end, taking the surfboard was Willard’s way of asserting that Bill was not all powerful and that he can’t get everything he wants just because he is the leader of the Air Cav.

[Geoff D]

Not to score points after the fact (I know I'm very good at that) but honest to dog I was genuinely thinking about how the extended cuts present those two facets of Willard when writing that previous post about the Final Cut, that it's very much like the mercurial nature of Kurtz (though we hear about it from Dennis Hopper rather than seeing it in action).

The seduction scene in the French plantation does of course hammer this nail down hard, what with her telling Willard outright that "there are two of you, one that loves and one that kills". BUT, although I understand that thematic link, it still doesn't quite gel for me as the 'two Willards' are so different that it's just plain jarring.

We can see already that Kilgore's a bit of an oddball so I don't hanker after seeing him turned into more of a buffoon either. I love how the theatrical transitions from Kilgore's almost wistful "someday this war's gonna end" to Willard on the boat who follows directly on from that point, referencing that line in his voice-over, but with the surfboard scene now smack bang in the middle of those two bits we now get this serious/funny/serious switchup. I'm instantly reminded of this from Futurama:

Futurama - iHawk - YouTube

[xbs2034]

I do want to see the theatrical cut to have all versions to compare, but it’s hard for me to see preferring it over Redux. Yes, the pacing can be messed up, but it’s a surreal and long journey where I accept feeling some of the ennui that the characters have (and frankly I cannot think of a single film over three hours where the pace doesn’t drag at least at some point, it’s part of what you known you’re in for when you pick a movie that long).

But I really like the bunnies scene and the extra Kurtz sequence (seeing the Final Cut, it just felt like he needed one more scene) and I heard the theatrical cut loses the moments providing some sense of humanity in Kilgore that I feel richly adds to the character. The French plantation scene is easily what I could lose without much regret though, and weirdly bugged me more in the Final Cut than Redux.

[Bn43]

So all three cuts got the exact same video and audio treatment? I can't decide which to watch first. I watched Redux like eight years ago and the theatrical a few times before that.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by xbs2034

I do want to see the theatrical cut to have all versions to compare, but it’s hard for me to see preferring it over Redux. Yes, the pacing can be messed up, but it’s a surreal and long journey where I accept feeling some of the ennui that the characters have (and frankly I cannot think of a single film over three hours where the pace doesn’t drag at least at some point, it’s part of what you known you’re in for when you pick a movie that long).

But I really like the bunnies scene and the extra Kurtz sequence (seeing the Final Cut, it just felt like he needed one more scene) and I heard the theatrical cut loses the moments providing some sense of humanity in Kilgore that I feel richly adds to the character. The French plantation scene is easily what I could lose without much regret though, and weirdly bugged me more in the Final Cut than Redux.

It's not so much that it "drags", it's that there's more of a stop-start-stop-start-stop-start feel to it when it comes to the actual unfolding of the narrative, the rhythm is much "lumpier" (for want of a much better word) with all these extra vignettes tacked on. Some folk would say that's the point of the extra stuff, to not further the story itself but to furnish it with more surreal madness, e.g. some even contend that the French peeps are ghosts.

[TheSweetieMan]

Geoff, what’s the quick verdict on the UHD?

[Geoff D]

Sky_Captain summed it up nicely with that Monroe gif ^

[pi2loc]

The digipack looks incredible and only $22.99. I'm getting it day one! No reason to wait for a price drop!

[stonesfan129]

Any huge reason to buy this over the Blu-ray of the Theatrical/Redux cut if I don't care about the 4K?

[HDMan72]

Originally Posted by Sky_Captain

Just finished the theatrical cut.

That is F***'in cool! Cant wait to get this, hopefully Saturday its mine!!!

[OutOfBoose]

So relieved to hear UHD is ****ing great.

Originally Posted by stonesfan129

Any huge reason to buy this over the Blu-ray of the Theatrical/Redux cut if I don't care about the 4K?

Not sure if it's huge for you, but BD discs contain new masters of all three cuts. Plus there's the original 5.1 audio track for the theatrical cut.

[slappywhite78]

They are a sucky company. They don’t care if stuff arrives damaged and then want to charge you a restock fee if you return something! Sorry but worst company ever!

[alien2010]

Originally Posted by birdztudio

mind me asking? being in UK how come you get it so quick? where did you order from?

Toysandfilms of ebay. A very reliable seller

[Agent Kay]

Originally Posted by Sky_Captain

Pretty much flush depth wise. A few millimeters taller.


Roughly the same size as a jumbo steelbook, (save for those few millimeters in height).

Alphabetical?

[koberulz]

Originally Posted by Rick Grimes

While I don’t own A Few Good Men, I did put A Quiet Place at the front of my UHD collection, where it should go, logically. “The” gets dropped in titles, not “A”

This is incorrect.

[timcat4843]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Here's everything just so there's no foul ups

Final Cut UHD: English Atmos (TrueHD 7.1 bed), English Dolby Digital 2.0 @ 192 kb/s

Final Cut BD: same

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Theatrical & Redux UHD: English Atmos (TrueHD 7.1 bed), audio commentary for Redux

Theatrical & Redux BD:

English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, English Dolby Digital theatrical mix 5.1 @ 448 kb/s (theatrical cut only), English Dolby Digital 5.1 @ 448 kb/s, English Dolby Digital 2.0 @ 192 kb/s, audio commentary for Redux

So how"s the Atmos sound quality on the UHD disc?
Is there much in the way of overhead speaker support?

[King Crimson]

Its Friday working from home, mail man delivers Apocalypse Now 4K, arrives mint, sold DC for 12. I love the smell of capitalism in the morning...

[TitusTroy]

how's the 4K/Dolby Vision quality?