APOCALYPSE NOW: FINAL CUT (the other three-hour movie that played this weekend)
Seen at the Tribeca Film Festival. Some first thoughts–please pardon any disjointedness.
183 minutes–so only 19 minutes less than REDUX and 36 minutes longer than the original version. The rescue of the Playboy bunnies is dropped as well as the additional scenes with Kurtz. The French Plantation sequence is kept as well as the theft of Kilgore’s surfboard. Overall, the films feels harsher and less lush.
The Vietnam War was a circus set down in a foreign land–as all imperialisms are. The sense that the Vietnamese and their country are the unwilling backdrop to the American drama is strong. No sense that this is a war for any other reason than to be violent and try out new weapon technology.
The surrealism of the whole movie seems increased. There is no one in charge–just a narrative that having been started is now out of human control (much like HE GODFATHER III). The horror is the machine that is America which cannot be stopped. Willard can kill Kurtz and turn the radio off, but those are small actions.
Willard does not seem to be worshiped at the end–rather the dropping of the machete is a sign that the madness is over and hence the other weapons are dropped–rather like Kay’s “All this must end” in HE GODFATHER II. Willard succeeds where Colby failed, who became part of Kurtz’ army since he was too weak not to. Kurtz’ torture of Willard is to demonstrate how far Kurtz will go–a dare if you will: either join me or stop me Capt. Willard.
Credits immediately follow on a black screen. No use of the footage of the compound being bombed. Willard does not call in the airstrike.
In some ways the film feels both bumpier than ever and also more forceful. I think Coppola is right–he first cut too much and then over-restored as compensation–the film has to play like a surreal narrative imposed on others who become its victims or its accomplices. The first version was too much boy’s adventure (a John Milius movie) and the second too humanizing.
Will open August 15th and then blu ray release August 27th. In an interview afterward, Coppola said that the Vietnam War was the first West Coast war, and while he thought he was going to end the movie Guns-of-Navarone style, as he made it, he realized he could not go that way.
I love how they structured the teaser, with the extenuated scene with Jessica Chastain at the beginning, rather than having just a simple montage of random clips from the film (although we do get some of that at the end). The scene presented was quite good, I thought, seemlessly moving from unsettling to uncomfortably humorous to frightening and back with relative ease. Very much hoping that the film as a whole can pull off that kind of atmosphere throughout.
Yeah, the whole movie landscapeis a bit reboot mad at the moment and I really don’t want a rehash of the first film or a new actor playing John Kramer/ Jigsaw. However there are enough apprentices around that there are theoretically places you can take the series. Bring back Carey Elwes and we might have something.
Robert Pattison looks set to play Matt Reeves The Batman.
Imo they’ll be lucky to get him. He’s shown superb chops and taste with the projects he’s chosen since escaping Twilight. He was particularly great in Good Times.
For him to go back to a franchise after the efforts to distance himself is a little surprising, but Reeves did a fantastic job with the Apes movies, so I’m sure his sensibilities and ambitions for the The Batman are the draw here.
Nicholas Hoult is apparently his competition for the role, but he’s not gruff enough (though his work in Mad Max shows he may be plenty able to machismo it up a few notches. Personally I see Hoult’s name in the mix as a bargaining chip in the deal with Pattison’s reps.
Guess this counts Pattison out of post-Craig Bond!
Good choice, in my opinion. He’s young, good looking and well known enough to draw a crowd. I can see him navigating the bachelor and businessman sides of the character well. We all know how Michael Keaton was mocked for being Mr Mom, so Rob’s Twilight background means nothing to me.
I see a lot of similarities between the casting of Pattison and Affleck. They both did a few bad big budget films after which struggled to be taken seriously and then spent years rebuilding their credibility in smaller projects. Playing Batman was a huge gamble for Affleck and it didn’t turn out well for him. Pattison needs to consider this decision very carefully.
Affleck approached the role very physically (appropriate for Snyder’s cartoon on steroids style).
Pattison’s a far more cerebral actor and i believe Reeves would’ve likely picked him for this reason. Makes me suspect that we’ll see more of the psychological toll on Bats than we’re used to.
And the feeling i’m getting from the buzz thus far is that it’ll be Batman by way of Chinatown; a more noir’ish Batman will suit Pttycakes, if that’s indeed the case.
I suspect this puts the likelihood of Nolan doing a Bond film down to nil, but the amount of times it’s rumoured “top Hollywood bosses flew him out to LA to entice him” will go up.
I’m actually quite excited for this, and was actually considering starting a Tenet thread…which I may now do…
Imo opinion it can only effect his chances positively. If it fails he’ll be just as attractive to Eon and he probably keener.
If it succeeds he’ll be even more attractive to the investors and he’s such a confessed fan I can’t see him saying no to Bond because he’s got his own espionage thing going on.
According to the information available “Tenet” is also a globetrotting (seven countries!) spy thriller.
And if Nolan can make “Dunkirk” a world wide blockbuster a much easier accessible action movie will certainly be a huge success. Which might steal Bond´s thunder or even set up Nolan´s own spy franchise.
Who knows - since Nolan did meet EON but only wanted to start a new Bond era he decided not to wait for Craig to leave (if BOND 25 is not his last, BOND 26 could start in 2025) and wrangled his ideas into a beast of its own.
And now, playing devil´s advocate a bit more, imagine BOND 25 opening in April 2020. Then a few months later “Tenet” opens. Critics tend to love Nolan, and if BOND 25 does not completely blow them away they will compare it to “Tenet” less favorably. “Oh, if only Nolan had directed Bond”. “Nolan does not need Bond, he has created an exciting new spy series.” “Nolan´s movie is what the spy genre looks like today, Bond is yesterday’s news”. And so on…
Even worse: if BOND 25 does get delayed again and could only start after “Tenet”…
Yeah, life has not become easier for EON in the last weeks.
Fortunately, not having any money in the game, I can just enjoy The Rise of Skywalker, Knives Out, Kingsman: The Great Game, Bond 25 and Tenet in a nice consecutive run.