Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now is a psychological thriller set in the Vietnam war. The film is directed by Francis Ford Coppola and filmed in 1979. The film is based on the story of Benjamin Willard played by Martin Sheen who is tasked with assassinating a renegade soldier who went missing in the jungle. The government ordered the assasination and they want to keep it a secret. Willard is given a document which contains all the information about Walter Kurtz who is played by Marlon Brando. The information given to Willard is about how Kurtz was a highly decorated war hero. This makes Willard think twice about killing him. Overall, the film is captivating and has a lot of dialogue that’s interesting. The story is unique and the characters you meet along the way are all different with different personalities. 

 

Hateful Eight

The Hateful Eight is a western thriller directed by Quentin Tarantino. The story is set in the American west a few years after the civil war. The story focuses on a tied up women that is part of a gang. Eight people are trapped in a haberdashery in the middle of nowhere. As the story progresses, we can see that 4 people in the haberdashery are trying to free the women from the hangman John Ruth. The film was filmed in chapters and in each chapter we find out more about the people and their intentions. The film itself is very unique and set in one location. The cinematography is very good and the establishing shots are very cinematic.  

Goodfellas  

Goodfellas is a crime thriller directed by Martin Scorsese. The story is about the New York mob and focuses on the character Henry Hill played by Ray Liotta. The film starts by going through Henry’s early life as a teenager and growing up with the mob. Then he moves up the ranks and eventually becomes one of the bosses in the gang. The last section of the film is all about how the FBI and the police know about the gang’s illegal heists and drug running and how Henry is put into witness protection as he tells the FBI everyone that was involved. The film is a classic gangster film with very well known actors like Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci. Overall, the film

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In this essay I intend to compare and contrast the narrative and stylistic codes and conventions of two thriller films. I will compare “The Net” with “Apocalypse Now”. 

 

Introduction to “Apocalypse Now”

“Apocalypse Now” is a psychological thriller. It’s narrative focuses on the slow decline in mental health of soldiers in the Vietnam war. The story follows two main characters that only meet each other near the end of the film. The character Benjamin Willard played by Martin Sheen has been tasked with finding a missing soldier in the jungles and assassinating a renegade Colonel. Walter Kurtz played by Marlon Brando, has been living in the jungle and is being depicted as a God in a village by the locals. The film shows how a man stranded in the jungle can become mentally unstable and as a result has to be put down by his own people. Throughout the film, Willard discovers that the person he has to kill is one of the most decorated war heroes. This causes Willard to look at his moral compass and see if all this hassle for one man is worth it.

 

Opening scene to “Apocalypse Now”

The opening scene to the film starts with an establishing shot of a jungle landscape, followed by the faint sound of a helicopter getting closer and passing the camera. After that the opening music starts. The song is “The End” by “The Doors”. The song was used in the film by the director, Francis Ford Coppola, foreshadowing that the end is coming. Another helicopter comes past the camera the same way and it stays at the same shot while the music is playing in the background. The trees in the shot light on fire and the forest is up in flames. The camera begins to pan to the right as the music continues. As the camera moves, more helicopters are going back and forth. At 1:45, a cross fade of the main characters face appears but you can still see the jungle in the background. A POV of the main character is shown,as well as a close up of his face upside down. The ceiling fan the main character is looking at symbolises the helicopters that are flying in the background. The noise of the helicopters are replacing the ceiling fan noise. The shot cross fades into a desk with all of the main characters belongings which include pictures and documents. The camera pans to the right to show a close up of the characters face. Then it shows another desk which has a lighter, a pack of cigarettes and a glass of alcohol. Finally as the music fades away, the camera shows a close up of a gun which is on the bed next to the character. The camera shows the ceiling fan again while the noise of the helicopter intensifies. This could connote that the noise of helicopters is stuck in the characters head, suggesting signs of PTSD. The camera pans down and which is now in the point of view of the character as he walks towards the window and peers through it. We see an establishing shot of the city “Saigon” as the character states. The character is sat in silence when he suddenly jumps up without anything provoking him, suggesting that he is hearing things in his head which are not necessarily there.   

 

The Character’s Dialogue

The character starts talking as the narrator. He speaks about how every time he wakes up he thinks he is still in the jungle. We cut to the character on his bed as he lays there emotionlessly and he talks about the first time he went to war. This sets the film's theme straight away: the main character has gone mad from the war, narrating the story as the film progresses. 

 

Introduction to “The Net”

“The Net” is a conspiracy thriller, where the narrative focuses on Angela Bennett, played by Sandra Bullock. Angela Bennett lives at home and works on computers. She works at a company called Cathedral Software as a software analyst, leads a secretive life with only a few friends who do not know what she looks like. Her mother also has trouble recognising her due to her suffering from alzheimers. When Angela is dealing with what looks to be a virus in one of Cathedral's new games, she takes a vacation in Mexico. There, she meets Jack Devlin, who ultimately becomes her love interest. But Jack is not all he seems as he tries to kill her, over the work issue she is facing. Angela manages to escape from Jack, but has bigger issues when slowly she realizes that Jack and the group to which he is tied, who she eventually learns are called the Praetorians, have stolen her identity, and provided her with a new a new one, filled with a criminal history.

 

Opening Scene to “The Net”

The opening shot is of the food which is what the main character has been eating. There is soft music playing in the background over an animatronic voice. Then the diegetic sounds of the main character typing on the keyboard can be heard as the camera pans up and to the left. The main character is then speaking to the computer and having a conversation with the animatronic voice about her going on holiday. This sets the scene on how the main character is intelligent and clever enough to have a conversation with a computer as the time period the film is set in is in mid 90s which is not far along the technology advancements of the modern world. Then multiple voices from the computer speaks to the main character as the music in the background becomes soft and dreary.

 

Comparing the Two Films

As the two films are two different types of thrillers, they are going to have both differences and similarities. One example of a difference, is that “Apocalypse Now” is a war film as well as a thriller, mostly focusing on aspects of war. On the other hand, “The Net” is a film about cyber security and government secrets, which is where the similarity can be detected. The whole point of the assasination in “Apocalypse Now” is that it is a government secret and completely classified. “The Net” is shown that the government secrets are to be stopped and avoided. In “Apocalypse Now” the government secrets are very contrivertal and the main character is having thoughts about the ethical point of view. Another obvious difference in the two films is the location. “The Net” is filmed in the city which has a lot of impact on the shots and camera focuses. This also means the film will be shot in mostly inside or in confined spaces. “Apocalypse Now” is set in the jungle and this will mean lots of establishing shots and cinematography. The film itself is very cinematic for the time period it was filmed in, which heavily influenced the camera focuses in the film. 

 

Conclusion

Overall, the two contrasting thriller films (“Apocalypse Now”, “The Net”) have lots of differences which include setting and plot. However, they do both still have similarities which are mainly to do with the plot.