So, the title of “better than the original” is usually something reserved for only the most elite of movies like the Star Wars series or pornography. The ability for a movie to be so worthwhile that it deserves a sequel, and then have that sequel be better than what justified its creation in the first place is a true thing of a beauty, all “once the student, now the master” style. The Godfather Part II has always been a movie that has been branded this way and it wasn’t until The BackLOG that I got to experience it for myself and I have to say…yeah, ya’ll were pretty much dead on.
Continuing the story of Michael Corleone as he moves his empire into Las Vegas while dealing with the assholes that made him feel like it was good idea in the first place, The Godfather Part II definitely knows how to tell one hell of a damn good story with a hell of a lot of amazing acting and amazing characters whose names I can never remember.
Unlike other mafia movies or even shows, The Godfather trilogy never really shows you this empire in action; you just see the Corleone family as complete badasses and make the assumption that they’re doing just fine. I’m ok with this to an extent but when you start throwing in stories that don’t really have a direct impact on what’s going on instead of filling in these gaps, like with Vito’s beginning or a senate hearing lasting all of 10 minutes, I start to worry a little bit and get uneasy. Not to say these stories aren’t amazing in their own right, but if we cut out all of Paulie and Christopher’s moments of getting shit done and filled it with tales of Tony’s first Christmas, The Sopranos wouldn’t have been nearly that good of a show. It just didn’t sit well with me.
But anyway, that’s a minor inconvenience to an otherwise amazing movie that is a joy to watch, though a little boring for the reasons mentioned above, I can’t deny that The Godfather Part II is a truly incredible film that leads up to a series of final moments that definitely serve as an adequate ending that you can be pleased with. Al Pacino rocks Michael Corleone and growing up watching Robert DeNiro become another icon for badass, seeing him play young Vito was a really nice touch.
I have to give one thing to cinematography in this movie, ‘cause The Godfather is now 2 for 2 in the department of exquisite lighting. Take note, film majors, this is how you do it right. You don’t need to show everything in order to show everything and many of the scenes, especially noticed in the confrontation scene with Michael and Fredo, grabbed attention and emotion by not showing you people’s faces clearly. This isn’t restrictions of old technology, this is by design and it’s beautiful to see. The same can be said for directing, every scene you felt a bit on edge and you could feel the stress mounting. I absolutely felt the same anger and frustration as the characters as this movie progressed. Well done guys, well done.
All things being said, this is a fantastic film that really should be experienced by everyone…granted you watched the original Godfather. Kind of can’t miss that one and perhaps I should have watched that first as kind of a recap, but that’s ok. I still really enjoyed this. Sadly, I can’t give this a perfect score ‘cause those gaps just really hurt the film and flow more than I would have liked it to, but you know what? 9 dustbusters out of 10 ain’t bad, though I’m sure Michael Corleone will stop me and say “You broke my heart, Joe. You broke my heart.”
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