Review of The Godfather Part II (1974) by Landon M — 26 Jul 2015

An extraordinary sequel, parts of which match and even surpass the original in terms of power and elegance. With his comparatively short amount of screen time, Robert De Niro steals this movie. As the young Vito Corleone he is tender and vicious, powerful and human; it is one of his finest performances, and it is done mostly out of gestures, like a great performance from the silent picture days.

Still, the rest of the cast does a magnificent job; Pacino, Duvall and Keaton all manage to outdo their previous executions, and John Cazale presents a startlingly touching portrait of older brother Fredo.

Coppola, the one who took the real risk here, delivers a precisely put together film, stringing veins from the past and the future to comment on such a troubling present. His camera work here is perhaps his most lively and smooth, gliding gracefully amongst these many years and suggesting something wholly cinematic- Coppola, as much as anybody else, understands that film is an immortal medium, and only when an artist understands that specificity can he capture the humanity and mortality of human beings with it as well as is done here.