Godfather Part 2

So, I watched my Blu-Ray copy of Godfather II this weekend. As with Part 1, it was interesting to catchup after all these years. I honestly can't remember the last time I saw it, but it was a long time ago; perhaps 1991.

So what did I think?

This is a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde movie. More specifically, it is partially great, and partially... well... let's say it didn't quite come together. Students of Coppola know that GF2 is both a prequel and a sequel. The movie interleaves two stories: The story of how Vito Corleone came to America and made it big, and the story of Michael... er... we'll get to that one in a moment.

The prequel component is sensational. The sequel component is not so sensational. I found the prequel totally fascinating. Robert Di Niro's performance seemed better than ever. The recreation of early 20th Centry New York was amazing. The origin story was pointed and amazing. There was a clear-cut story with a clear path & agenda. The same really cannot be said for the sequel.

The sequel is a narrative muddle. Michael is now the Godfather. He has moved the family to Las Vegas. Most of his family members are undisciplined embarrassments to him. He taking a lot more shit than his papa ever had to suffer. Abruptly, hitmen from New York try to grease his bedroom with machine guns. Michael and Kay survive without a wound, due to a flash of intuition Michael has. Michael is first pushing Tom away; then he is going to make him the boss. The rest of this story is a convoluted trap play Michael runs, trying to ferret out who the 'traitor' in his family is. We waltz around the country, going to Florida, New York, and Cuba. We play Hymen Roth off of Frank Pentangelie. Roth is promising real partnership with the real government in Cuba. Five-Angels goes over to the police, and turns states evidence. We go to Cuba and see the Baptista regime at the end of its moment in time. We have a trial. Michael discovers his own brother Freddo is traitor at a live sex show in Cuba on the night of the Castro revolution. Michael has Freddo and Roth killed. Michael wins again.

When you interleave the two stories, you get a pretty huge, sprawling, endless epoch. It does take forever to get ot the end of this movie. The prequel is tight, well planned, brilliantly executed. The sequel has a lot of loose change rolling around in its knees. It walks too slowly because of these loose bodies in the joints. It's painful. This is a tale of two stories, one great and one not so great.

For those who say that the Godfather II is better than the Godfather I, you are simply mistaken. For those who point out that it won 6 Oscars rather than 3, this fact doesn't mean a damn thing to me. The Motion Picture Academy makes mistakes all the time. They don't always get it right.