Considered to be one of the greatest sequels if not the greatest, The Godfather Part II is yet another cinema changing film. Much like its predecessor, The Godfather Part II gets every single aspect of a film right but the big is, which is better? The original or the legendary sequel? The Godfather Part II tells the story of the new Don of the Corleone family, Michael, and his rise to power whilst also telling the story of a much younger Vito Corleone. Never in any way connecting to each other, the stories in The Godfather Part II play out as parallel storylines. Describing the story of The Godfather Part II generally a hard thing to explain due to the amount of content that is put into these films.
The acting in The Godfather Part II is downright legendary! Al Pacino is the star of the film and absolutely destroys it! His performance of Michael Corleone in this film is just breathtaking, especially a scene late in the film involving Michael and Kay, regarding their baby. Just the facial expression alone in that scene was worthy of an Oscar. It isn't an understatement, it was just that intense. 'Intense' is a word that is often thrown around a lot but his performance is definitely intense. Those who claim that the last half an hour of Zero Dark Thirty is the most intense thing they've ever seen have clearly not seen The Godfather Part II. That is a fact! Whilst Al Pacino steals the show, there is another scene stealer. A young Robert de Niro absoluely owns the role as a young Vito Corleone. His performance is so realistic and so amazing that is compared to Marlon Brando's portrayal of Vito Corleone. De Niro himself, definitely deserved the Oscar that he won for The Godfather Part II. Other fantastic performances include Robert Duvall, who is definitely the most underrated of the cast and other performances by Lee Strasberg as Hyman Roth and performances including Talia Shire as Connie are great! Performance wise, The Godfather Part II is one of the best, proving indeed that Francis Ford Coppola does know how to direct and work with actors.
The musical score in these films is legendary. It is music at its most powerful and most iconic. The musical score is such an intense and such an emotional score that it blends perfectly with these films. Nothing more can really be said. Francis Ford Coppola won Best Director for this film and truly deserves it, being the masterpiece it is! In terms of writing and directing, it is legendary!
That said, The Godfather Part II, in my opinion, is not a greater film than the original Godfather film for many reasons. I do not find the characters in the film nearly as iconic and interesting, nor the story and the scenes. That said, I still love the story and characters and find it iconic, which should indicate how much more I love the original Godfather film!
Despite Al Pacino giving the best performance of the film, in my eyes, young Vito's storyline is the more interesting for me. Both are fantastic, definitely, but the way the young Vito's storyline fleshed out the character and tied in perfectly with Brando's Vito was amazing!
The Godfather Part II is close to perfection whether it be the story, the characters, the acting, the music, the direction or the writing. Alongside the original Godfather film, it is possibly tied for the best crime film of all time.
Grade- A+
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