Winnipeg

The Godfather Part II is easily the greatest sequel ever made. It not only lives up to its monumental predecessor, but in some ways even supercedes it. It isn’t quite as masterful of a film as The Godfather overall, but the story structure in Part II is more refined and creative than in the first. The movie follows the path of Michael Corleone from where it left off at the end of The Godfather while also tying in flashbacks of his father’s childhood and young adult years in Little Italy. The two intertwined stories hold great power, and together they pack a very powerful punch in their presentation of mob life as seen from the 1900’s to the 1970’s. The younger Don Corleone is played by Robert De Niro, who learned Sicilian to complete the effect of his performance. There is an interesting comparison to make in how the Don and Michael entered the mob lifestyle. Don Vito’s mother was murdered and he was left poor and helpless in the harsh streets of Little Italy, which was run by a ruthless mob leader named Fanucci. Eventually Vito is shown brutally murdering Fanucci in a scene that is eerily reminiscent of Michael’s cold-blooded killing in The Godfather. In the story that starts where The Godfather left off, following Michael, we see him falling tragically deeper and deeper into the murderous gangster lifestyle. He finds himself running into harsh rejection from his wife and betrayal from his brother Fredo. There are scenes where Michael is shown pondering and the camera drifts towards his troubled eyes, and due to Al Pacino’s immaculate acting abilities we can see what Michael is thinking. He feels a regret of the deepest kind. He knows that he has thrown all of his chances down the drain and that he is falling deeper and deeper into the pit of evil. At one point in the film a character compares the Corleone family’s reign to the Roman Empire, and as an audience we can’t help but feel pity for Michael and the terrible life he leads. This film is longer, more elaborate and more creatively laid out than its predecessor, but it doesn’t quite carry the same power. That is its only drawback. It stands on its own as one of the greatest American pictures of all time..

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