Review of The Godfather Part II (1974) by Stuart M — 18 Jul 2014

This time I don't get the critical acclaim for this film. It's not a bad movie by any means, but it feels like half a film and doesn't really develop any new themes. This is very much just a finishing of the story that started in the first film. If that one could be subtitled "The Fall of Michael Coreleone" this one would be "The Continuing Fall of Michael Corleone," and that just isn't as compelling an arc. I felt the first film basically established where Michael's character was headed and this film simply traces that inevitable development. The moment at the end of the first film where Michael shuts the door on his suspicious wife said everything that you might need to know about where their relationship was headed. And then surprise surprise, they actually do fall apart. A second scene at the end of this film where Michael shuts the door on her is not nearly as powerful as the first, although it achieves its goal of feeling crueller. In all, this felt like the direct continuation of a story that didn't really need a continuation.

Michael's enigmatic stoicism was perfectly fine in the first film since he had several other characters to bounce ideas off of, but here his actions are largely inexplicable. The film ends in several pointless deaths that do nothing to advance his interests and merely represent his wrath. The point is that he has sunk to a completely irredeemable level of vileness and isolation but since we rarely hear his reasoning his descent is basically uncharted. I liked Marlon Brando a lot in the first one, although I didn't understand the overblown praise for his performance, and his presence as a father and mentor is really missing here. Michael shared his thoughts with him a bit more than he does with anyone else. All he has now is his brother Fredo and consiliere Tom, and neither of them are really privy to his inner workings.

Robert De Niro is as amazing in this film as you might expect, though I don't really get why he was cast. With the exception of two or three short phrases in English his entire dialogue is in Italian, a language De Niro doesn't speak. Judging from internet sites he did his usual method acting thing and gets the Sicilian accent and pronunciation perfect, but why didn't they just hire a Sicilian actor to play the part? Or give him some English lines? Any English lines? I get that in Little Italy they'd have spoken largely Italian but they must have used some English.

The cinematography also seems less impressive than in the last film. While the shots are still good none of them match the distinctive quality of the first film. That one had some memorable scenes, especially when it came to hits or potential hits. Here there is only one memorable hit and it comes towards the end. This is partially a problem with scripting as well of course since the film doesn't really provide many cinematic moments that can be treated in that distinctive clinical yet exotic way. The best scene is the final one, although initially I thought it was pointless and random. It's a flashback to the time before the first film where the whole family was alive and everybody was relaxing before Michael tells them he's joining the army. It tells us nothing about why he became who he did, but as the scene goes on it gets more and more confusing as we are reminded of who Michael originally was. At this point in the film you've forgotten how far Michael has sunk so this completely ordinary scene manages to quite powerfully convey its message without the need for any flashy scriptwriting. He was just an idealistic kid, and while elements of his later life are certainly there (his brooding sullenness for example) it's hard to see the killer lurking in the wings. It's a good scene and a powerful one that manages to completely twist what we've just seen around and returns us to the question of why. But this brings me right back around to my original point: that this film seems just like the end to the last one. I feel like this would be better served as one film so that we could see his fall starting from the beginning instead of coming in halfway.