Review of The Godfather Part II (1974) by Allen G — 25 Mar 2013

A sequel that somehow manages to be better than it's predecessor and get this- it's predecessor was the freakin' Godfather!

Never has a sequel been as good as this one (well Toy Story 2 maybe but different kettle of fish!). There's something about the very nature of a sequel that somehow means it can't be as good as what came before it- this film defies that and gets away with it- why? Well, who'd wanna start a fight with Pacino or De Niro as they are here!?

When you watch this it quickly becomes clear that the first instalment was just that- an instalment, it was always going to go hand-in-hand with this one and that meant that not only would the sequel be as good, it would also be better thanks to the first film providing an exceptional framework for the next section of the story. The same can't really be said for the last instalment of the trilogy though and that's why The Godfather: Part 2 is my favourite of the three.

If you look at each element separately- this film should be a failure, nothing more than pasting parts of Puzo's work that couldn't be fit into the first instalment. Of course, it isn't quite like that- this screenplay is planned and executed down to a tee which makes for a more satisfying watch than the first movie and makes for an all round better experience.

The real magic with this one is that it expands out without ever compromising what made the first film so great- nothing is lost here, simply more added. I swear it's movie trickery because that's just not something you'll see in many other sequels.

Now despite this often being hailed as the best sequel in film history, it's still often seen as inferior to the first instalment and I entirely understand why- there is no doubt that this covers loose ends and that it has it's own loose ends also- it breaks tension through multiple stories and seems disorganised at times but the thing we need to remember is that, despite this, nothing fails in this film- it's gripping and exceptional, just as the first was, from start to finish. The first film has no flaws to overcome, it's a master of it's own destiny, this sequel didn't have it so easy, but it succeeded triumphantly anyway.

The stories of the Corleones are told so well that it just doesn't make sense to say that having more of them, as is the case here, is a bad thing.