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~Josh Gagnon~
Plot: Setting is Vietnam, with the main character Capt. Benjamin Wallard (Vet. in the war) played by Martin Sheen. He's sent back into the jungle on a big assignment to take over a U.S. soldier gone mad, Walter E. Kultz played by Marlin Brando. This movie shows an in-depth view of how bad Nam was, as they go deeper into the jungle, the weirder things get. This movie has so much to it; it would take me forever to talk about even half of the different plotlines. People like Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, Dennis Hopper, and even Harrison Ford makes a small appearance.
 : Long.Ass.Movie. Holy cow, I don't think I've ever been so antsy for a movie to get over with. I started it at about 9:30am and with a couple interruptions I didn't finish it till about 12:30pm. I watched the DVD Redux version, which they added a lot of footage, which really wasn't needed, it just added to the Nam feeling, but gave me blood clots trying to sit through.
Maybe I don't have enough intellect to understand all the parts in this movie, but I felt quite confused when some of the characters rambled on and on, mostly the French that were in Nam, Dennis Hopper the spaced out U.S. photographer, and Marlin "GoNe CrAzY" Brando. If you ever wondered why when people make fun of him by telling useless stories, check this movie out. I don't know how he got such a cult together in this movie; I rarely understood what he was sputtering.
 : Next to Platoon, this depicts Nam nicely. Showing of how people act differently towards fighting, some freak out, some stay tough, others start to blank out from life. If you want to see how Nam affects people or what the scenery of such a war would look like, this is defiantly the movie to check out. It shows so many different places, from towns, to rivers, to the deep jungle.
Out of everyone, my favorite character was Lt. Colonel Kilgore played by Robert Duvall. He was a super veteran of war, and wasn't afraid of anything, a mortar shell would drop and he’d stand looking around, while everyone else hit the deck. He seemed more occupied with surfing then fighting. He would send his men out to surf during a fight! I really enjoyed that parts that he was in. Too bad he had a smaller role, of course in a 3 ½ hour movie, unless it was Martin Sheen and his crew, everybody has a small role.
End: Good movie, but watch the original version, the DVD Redux version seems so long, and the added scenes aren’t critical to still enjoy the original version. If you have a free morning, then check out this movie. Then you too will love the smell of napalm in the morning.
I give this a movie a 3 ½, I think it would be a little higher if it weren't so long, and if some parts weren't as boring/confusing.
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