The Godfather Part 2

So they say that the Godfather 2 may be the best sequel ever made, and I can't say that they are wrong, this really is a great movie. As good as The Godfather (1), it's debatable. The Godfather told an epic story of the fall of a family from power and their attempt to rise out and possibly above it. The story The Godfather Part 2 tells is really at it's heart, and in both stories (sequel and prequel) a revenge story.

What Coppola masterfully did though was tell two similar and yet different stories: The rise of the Don Corelone (Vito and Micheal) framed around revenge. I also found it interesting that Don Micheal may be more alike to his grandfather's killer then he is like his father. Despite his viciousness Vito clearly loved his family and I don't think he would have treated Fredo like Micheal did, especially after what Don Ciccio(sp?) did to Vito's family and attempted to do to Vito himself. Maybe I'm wrong here but the portrait I get of Vito from the prequel and from part 1 was that Vito viewed things as business whereas Micheal, despite what he says, takes things much more personal. Even the birthday party scene when Micheal is almost sulking, hurt by Vito and the family, you see that he is taking this personally.

The acting was again just wonderful. DeNiro was maybe not as polished as we'd see him a few years later in Raging Bulls and later in Goodfellas, he still had the kinda slump shuffle thing that he did in Mean Streets, but is really good here, although I will admit that seeing him in a film like this not directed by Martin Scorsese is strange. I think it goes back to Coppola and Scorsese 's backgrounds and experiences. FFC grew up in a musical family, almost I'd call it "high Italian" large family, where things are a family business. His father was a musician who helped with the music on his films, his mother was an actress, his sister is Talia Shire, his nephews act. I think that's why his focus, in these movies, is never on the grunts or the soldiers but on the High Mafia families. Scorsese, on the other hand, grew up in a more working class Italian family, a street family, and that's why his best gangster movies, even something like The Departed, have a focus on the mafia soldiers.

Honestly I haven't see anything with Lee Strasburg in it other then this, but I can see why there is an acting method named after him. Talia Shire didn't annoy me in this movie, in fact I kind of enjoyed her trampy performance. It was really different then Adrian, which really is her defining role. Diane Keaton still bugged me in this movie, maybe it's just the character of Kay, maybe it's Keaton's performance, I don't know but I don't like her. I talked to one of the biggest Godfather fans I know and he agrees that Keaton is annoying.

Finally JOHN CAZALE! This is the actor that played Fredo, and brought such humanity to a real jerk of a person.

Again a great movie.