Platoon vs. Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now easily, as said it stands the test of time way better. It's also not a pure war movie but more a movie that happens to be set during the Vietnam war.

Having seen war movies like Black Hawk down Platoon just didn't stand the test of time as well.

I can imagine that at the time it was highly regarded though.

While they are very different movies I feel that Apocalypse Now is better merely for the fact that I keep picking up on things the more I watch it even though I fully admit that Marlon Brando ruined the ending.

As for Black Hawk Down that is one of the worst movies I have ever seen, I like my movies to actually have a story.

I agree that they're too different to compare. I think they're both great in different ways but, if forced to choose, I'd go with Apocalypse Now (the original '79 version and not REDUX, which burdens the picture with several draggy scenes that would only be interesting to those who've seen & like the original).

Some posters on this thread diss Apocalypse Now as "meaningless" and an "incoherent mess." But they couldn't be more wrong. The meaning of the story is obvious:

The trip up the river led by Capt. Willard (Sheen) exposes him to two extreme viewpoints of war represented by the two colonels he encounters on his long journey, both of whose names start with 'K,' which is no accident.

Lt. Col. Kilgore (Duvall) is a romantic who embraces war as a lifestyle and even feeds off it, i.e. glorifies it. The fact that he's a romantic can be observed in the air-raid on the village where he literally plays Wagner as a prologue. He feeds off the war to the extent that he "loves the smell of napalm in the morning." War is just another day to him so why not go surfing? Since he lives off of the war there's no way it can kill him or even give him a scratch. Kilgore naturally has the support of the top brass because he's part of the system and plays the game of war.

Col. Kurtz (Brando), by contrast, sees through this hypocrisy. He realizes that being in a state of war is humanity gone mad. It's horror itself and therefore must be ended through the quickest means possible at whatever cost. He refuses to play the game of war as he expertly plans & executes brilliant missions without official approval and takes out double agents, etc. Of course the brass can't have this so they slander him as insane and put out a hit on Kurtz via Willard. The existential Kurtz becomes increasingly disillusioned -- even "crazy" (e.g. the severed heads) -- after jumping ship from the system and now has no sanctuary. He can't go home again, whether back to his honored military position in the service or back to his family in America. Death is the only way out. His succor is that Willard will tell his son the truth.