The Godfather: Part II

I honestly felt like I had to force myself to watch The Godfather: Part II. It wasn't really a bad film, it just had a lot going on and was incredibly long. There are  two interwoven stories: one is a prequel of sorts which follows Vito Corleone from boyhood in Sicily through his assuming of the role of "Don" and the birth of his sons; the other follows Michael Corleone after the events of the first film as he tries to rebuild and legitimize his late father's crime family.

The prequel story was incredibly engaging and would've worked wonderfully as its own stand-alone film. Right from the very beginning, the young and mute Vito Andolini sees his mother killed by a major crime lord in Sicily and the story grabs the viewer and doesn't let go. The sequel, on the other hand, is somewhat intriguing but tends to get convoluted and dragged a little in some area. Vito's story feels more concise and straightforward, while Michael's feels at times like a soap opera. This film was good, but I think it would've worked even better as two separate films.

The interesting thing about having the two stories interwoven together is being able to see the parallels and differences between the two stories. Vito brings his life and his family together while Michael fumbles and watches his fall apart. An empire is built and also crumbles almost in the same moment. I can definitely see what the film makers were trying to do by having all of this go on in one film. It was a bold move and, on a lot of different levels, I think it worked out pretty well despite my personal misgivings.

I think my main issue with the sequel story is that, unlike the story in the first film, this one does not see Michael Corleone change much. A lot of the appeal of the first Godfather film was seeing Michael come into his own and become the new head of the Corleone family. There isn't a lot of that development in this story and I think that part of the film suffers because of this.

Despite all the negative things I've said, The Godfather: Part II is still a fantastic film. Robert DeNiro is great as the young Vito Corleone; he gets the raspy quiet voice down perfectly. Al Pacino continues to do well as Michael even though I didn't find the actual character as interesting this time around. John Cazale does a fantastic job as Fredo Corleone as well. He has a particularly memorable scene with Al Pacino towards the end of the film that really shows his acting chops.

As with Part I, I'm going to give this film two separate ratings: one for Vito's story and one for Michael's

Prequel Rating - 10/10

Sequel Rating - 7/10