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THE GODFATHER PART II
Review by Michael Jacobson
Stars:
Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro, Talia Shira,
Morgana King, John Cazale, Mariana Hill, Lee Strasberg
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Studio: Paramount
Length: 200 Minutes
Release Date: October 9, 2001
"Tom,
I'm surprised at you. If one
thing in life is certain...if history has taught us anything...it's that you
can kill anyone."
If
there was one drawback to the critical and cultural success of The Godfather
Part II, it's that the film became Hollywood's Holy Grail for
sequels...argue with any producer that sequels rarely live up to the quality of
original productions and usually weaken rather than strengthen established story
lines and characters, and they inevitably point to Francis Ford Coppola's
Oscar winning triumph as proof it can be done.
As Michael Corleone would say, "Nothing is impossible."
As his top man would clarify, though, "Difficult, but not
impossible." The fact that no
other sequel has come close to striking gold twice the way this movie did in
over a quarter of a century is proof enough.
Part
II is such a
beautiful, brilliant film in its own right that I even hate to use a stigmatized
word like "sequel" to describe it...but that's what it is, even down to
Coppola's personal insistence that the picture bear no other title than the
very simple, very distinct The Godfather Part II.
It's
a sequel with merit because both Coppola and author/co-screenwriter Mario Puzo
had more story that was worth telling. We
left Michael Corleone (Pacino) at the end of the first movie having traded in
all his once youthful ideals and ambitions to take his place on the throne, so
to speak. In the second part, we
follow not one, but two stories that play against each other in such paralleled
harmony that no medium outside of motion pictures could have given it the depth
of drama, scope and intelligence that it required.
Story
one follows Michael leading his family and business into some changing times.
He faces new challenges, new decisions, new opportunities, and new
heartaches in the 1950s. He tastes
the bitter seeds of inter-family betrayal and the failure to keep his own family
together, with wife Kay (Keaton) growing more and more apart from him.
He had promised her in the first part that the Corleone family would be
legitimate within five years...the fact that the second part takes up seven years
later is one indication that Michael has lost his original way.
The
second story actually flashes back to the rise of young Vito Corleone (De Niro,
stepping comfortably into the role made famous by Marlon Brando as an older
man). Vito, as a boy, escapes to
America to flee from a Don who murdered his entire family.
When he reaches the shores of the United States, the Statue of Liberty
looms large and welcoming...yet we know we are about to follow Vito's path
down the dark side of the American dream.
The
narrative juxtaposition between the story lines lends emotion and thoughtfulness
to both. Seeing Michael's modern
feud with his older brother Fredo (Cazale) is more haunting next to images of
them as children under the protection of their father Vito.
Vito's guts, determination and eventual successes almost seem to create
a legacy that Michael can't quite live up to, even though no one expects him
to try. It is something for the
audience to consider; not the characters.
The
Godfather Part II takes us on a historical journey through some of the key moments of the
American underworld, including family business that goes terribly awry in Cuba
with the outbreak of the revolution, the Senatorial hearings that would try to
bring down the Mafia's most powerful families, and again, in a flashback, a
consideration of the bombing of Pearl Harbor (which happens to coincide with
Vito's birthday) that leads to young Michael's decision to leave college and
join the Marines. His adopted
brother, Tom Hagen (Duvall), chastises him.
"Your father has big plans for you," he says.
"Many times, I've
talked to him about your future." "I
have my own plans for my future," Michael replies.
The
flash forward to the final shot of a sober and sad Michael is the very image of
the best laid plans gone to waste.
Video
****
I
found Part II to be an improvement on the already impressive transfer for
the first installment...again, with Gordon Willis' distinct, nostalgic
photography, the demands were great, but this anamorphic transfer rises to the
challenge with even more beautiful results.
There is much less interference with print age mementos, and the wider
array of locations make for more colorful scenes (the Cuba sequences are quite
stunning), and Willis' camera captures a more natural looking style, with
better detail and image integrity than before.
An impressive offering!
Audio
***
As
with the first film, the audio track makes good use of 5.1 surround
capabilities, especially in several key crowd scenes, but the dialogue in the
center channel sounds a bit thin from time to time, and without dynamic range.
Pacino's voice can be a powerful instrument, but when he yells, the
level flatlines, which is not the end of the world, but a problem worth noting
in an otherwise lively and well-constructed mix.
