Placement On Sight & Sound Top 50 Movies List: #31 (Tied witb Taxi Driver)
For years, I've heard the usual picks of when people say best sequels; The Empire Strikes Back, Spider-Man 2, and of course, The Godfather: Part II. That 1974 Francis Ford Coppola has been held up as the paragon of sequel filmmaking for decades now and getting to actually watch it for the first time totally made me realize why The Godfather: Part II is held up in such high stature in discussions of cinema. This thing not only manages to surpass the quality of its already incredible predecessor but it also does a remarkable job of enhancing the world established by the first movie by lending a sweeping mythic quality to the Corleone crime syndicate.
Over the course of The Godfather: Part II, we get two individual storylines taking place over different time periods. The one that takes up the lion's share of the movies screen time is one taking place in 1958 as Michael Corleone has spent many years now as the head of his families crime organization. He's increasing his influence and the level of respect he garners but there are also cracks forming in his world, most noticeably when two gunmen shoot up his bedroom in an attempt to assassinate him. The Federal government is also doing an in-depth investigation into his families crime dealings, putting further pressure on Michael.
The other plotline that proves to be integral to The Godfather: Part II is an extended flashback sequence taking place at the turn of the 20th century that shows a young Vito Corleone (played as an adult by Robert De Niro) coming to America as a kid and then his exploits as he grows up and tries to start a family. His journey here mirrors what Michael went through in the first film, a normal guy who slowly but surely becomes embroiled in the world of crime due to a hunger for vengeance. Basically, the two differing plotlines of The Godfather: Part II are dedicated to showing the birth of an empire (the Vito flashbacks) and the crumbling of an empire (the 1958-set Michael storyline).
Expanding the storytelling scope of this Godfather movie to take place across different years scattered throughout the first sixty years of the 20th century allows one to get a thorough glimpse into the two lead patriarchal figures that have secured ultimate command over the Corleone family. Between these two movies, we've been able to see the everyday human beings Vito and Michael started out as but we've also seen the harrowing transformation they've undergone once they secured a level of power in the world of organized crime. No one is safe under their ruthless commands as mobster leaders, a terrifying depiction of what kind of monsters can be unearthed in normal men when they become consumed by a lust for vengeance
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The intimate character-heavy nature of The Godfather: Part II is married to a sweeping scope that actually manages to help emphasize its more intimate details instead of detracting from them. For instance, one can see Vito gradually turning into the figure Marlon Brando depicted in the first movie, whether it's in overt details like De Niro growing a mustache in the third act that resembles Brando's facial hair in the last outing or more subtle details like young Vito's penchant for reminding people that he never forgets a favor. Loyalty is the name of the game for this man, even back when he was just trying to make ends meet for his family in a small apartment and it's a concept that his son will very much carry over as he heads up the Corleone family.
All of the various previously established loyalties or allegiances getting heavily tested is a concept The Godfather: Part II gets a lot of thoroughly engrossing drama out of in its 1958 plotline, which has even thick-as-thieves friends Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) and Michael Corleone having their relationship tested heavily. A sense of inescapable paranoia has gripped Michael Corleone and won't let go and Al Pacino does an incredible job depicting his character's arc of gradually becoming more and more unhinged and vengeful which culminates in him exploding in rage at his wife, Kay Adams (Diane Keaton) by way of his physically abusing her. It's a horrifying scene and one that Pacino lends equal levels of menace and desperation to. Michael wants to keep the idyllic vision of a harmonious mobster-run world he's in full control alive but reality is crushing that vision, with Kay wanting to take the kids away from him being only the newest wake-up call to him that he has far less control of his surroundings than he believes.
A massive cast compliments Pacino's terrific lead turn and also feels like an appropriate companion to the sprawling nature of the story of the film. Robert Duvall continues to be an excellent presence as Tom Hagen, he and Pacino bounce off each other in a warm manner that makes their friendship feel genuine which only makes their hardships later on in the movie all the more gut-wrenching to watch. As Fredo, John Cazale lends some humanity to the sad-sack member of the Corleone family. Cazale has this transfixing sense of vulnerability emanated in his performance here that makes him such a fascinating contrast to the other more staunch and strong Corleone family members, he feels like such a fascinating anomaly of a character that you can't help but be fascinated by him.
And then, of course, there's Robert De Niro, in one of his earliest film roles (though, interestingly, he'd already worked with Martin Scorsese at this point on a movie I've never heard of called Mean Streets). Like his performance in Taxi Driver just two years later, Robert De Niro makes it clear why he was known as such a remarkable talent from the get-go. Here, playing the role of Vito Corleone, De Niro is able to replicate certain physical mannerisms and pieces of body language found in Marlon Brando's performance of the same character in the last Godfather movie, making the fact that this indeed a younger version of that previously established character quite clear, but De Niro also predominately makes the role his own. He isn't looking to just do a retreated of what Brando did with Vito Corleone, he's clearly angling to bring his own ideas to the table in depicting the early days of Vito Corleone. Mission accomplished on that front, as De Niro brings this sense of normalcy and humanity to his depiction of the early years of a person we've previously seen as only a mythic figure of sorts.
Along with many of the aforementioned cast members coming back from the first movie, director Francis Ford Coppola also returns after directing the original Godfather film and he's obviously become even more daring as a filmmaker even in the short two-year interim between these two movies. For instance, he and cinematographer Gordon Willis do some great visual choices to separate the two differing time periods the film journies between, most noticeably in terms of color (there's a light orange-ish hue to certain parts of the Vito flashbacks that seem to be trying to give it this idyllic dream-like look). Obviously, The Godfather: Part II really isn't lacking in any area in terms of ambition, with its unique visual choices, wide-in-scope narrative and massive cast proving this is most certainly an audacious motion picture. But it's hard to imagine all of that ambition would have been as impactful without all of the fascinating character-related drama that The Godfather: Part II has in spades. Simply put, there's a reason why people have been talking about The Godfather: Part II as one of the greatest sequels ever made and I'll gladly join in in declaring such a statement regarding this masterwork of a film.
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