Film 005 - The Godfather Part II

(1974, colour, 200 mins)

Director – Francis Ford Coppola

Starring – Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton

It’s been widely claimed that The Godfather Part II is one of the few exceptions to the “sequels are worse than the original film” rule, along with the likes of Terminator 2 and (arguably) Aliens. Indeed, I’d go along with this: not only is it a worthy follow-up to a fantastic Italian gangster movie, it’s simply a true masterpiece in drama, plot and pacing.

The film clocks in at just under three and a half hours in length, but unlike the lengthy Fellowship Of The Ring (reviewed earlier this week) there’s a decent reason for it here: it’s effectively two films in one.

The movie jumps back and forth between two stories: as well as the expected continuation of the first movie’s story, with Michael Corleone (an intense Al Pacino) taking over the family business after the death of his father Vito, there’s also a sort of prequel storyline involving numerous flashbacks showing how Vito came to end up in New York and the story of his rise from Sicilian immigrant to “the Godfather”.

With Vito dead, Marlon Brando doesn’t star in the film, and while that may have seemed to some like suicide for the success of the film (after all, his much-imitated accent from the first film is the stuff of legend), his absence is more than made up for with the introduction of Robert De Niro, playing the young Vito in the flashback scenes. Speaking almost entirely in Italian throughout the whole film, De Niro’s performance is so impressive that he ended up taking the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (making him one of only four people to win an Oscar for playing a mainly foreign language role).

If you’ve not seen the original film, the sequel is certainly not recommended: the film assumes you know who everyone is and makes no attempts to get you up to speed. You’re expected to know that Michael Corleone is in charge now, you’re expected to know that De Niro’s meant to be a young version of Brando’s character and you’re expected to know who all the other main characters from the first movie are.

If you have seen the original however, The Godfather Part II is a fantastic follow-up that continues the excellent storyline and matches (and even exceeds at some points) the quality of its predecessor.

5 out of 5