Overwiew :Francis Ford Coppola's compelling sequel lives up to the brilliance of THE GODFATHER, contrasting the life of Corleone father and son. In parallel story lines the movie traces the problems of a matured Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) in 1958 and that of young immigrant Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro) in 1917's Hell's Kitchen. Vito is introduced to a life of crime by two-bit hood Clemenza (Bruno Kirby) while Michael survives an attempt on his life, familial betrayals, and Senate hearings...but at a cost. De Niro, speaking almost completely in Italian, is charismatic as the young Don, a Robin Hood-type figure.
www.boxoffice.com - : Paramount Pictures, having previously made cinematic history with ''Love Story,'' very easily will top that with the release of Mario Puzo's bestseller as adapted to the screen by Puzo and director Francis Ford Coppola. With advance guarantees equal to twice the cost of the film, the company made the unprecedented move of world premiering the Albert S. Ruddy production in five Manhattan theatres. Aside from being unquestionably a top grosser, the film gives Marlon Brando his best role in a decade. The Academy Award winner has had an unusually long string of indifferent films, that jinx being broken here. In concert with Brando's emoting, top honors go to a fine trio of young actors: Al Pacino, James Caan and Robert Duvall, as well as to Richard Castellano as a comic killer. While there have been changes from the novel, the film is both compelling and powerful. The violence entirely merits an R, and more sensitive stomachs will take offense. Technicolor-filmed in and around New York City, ''The Godfather'' has faithfully captured the post-war era. Coppola has given great insight into the inner workings of the Mafia (here called the family or the syndicate) and the particular code of its members. ''The Godfather'' means business. more...
rogerebert.suntimes.com - : Moving through the deep shadows and heavy glooms of his vast estate, Michael Corleone presides over the destruction of his own spirit in ''The Godfather, Part II.'' The character we recall from ''The Godfather'' as the best and brightest of Don Vito's sons, the one who went to college and enlisted in the Marines, grows into a cold and ruthless man, obsessed with power. The film's closing scenes give us first a memory of a long-ago family dinner, and then Michael at mid-life, cruel, closed, and lonely. He's clearly intended as a tragic figure. more...
movie-reviews.colossus.net - : The Godfather Part II is a more ambitious production than the original since it attempts not only to tell a pair of completely disconnected stories, but to do so in parallel. The less time consuming of the two presents the early life of Vito Corleone (played by Robert DeNiro) in Sicily and New York, and shows how he came into power. The other tale picks up approximately a decade after the conclusion of The Godfather, and shows the means by which Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), now secure in his position, attempts to expand the family empire into Las Vegas and Cuba. more...
Critic Reviews
