by Chris Marshall:
Before I get into The
Godfather Part Two, a caveat/boast: I passed my thesis defense today. What
this means for the blog post is that I am writing it on a very strict deadline.
It’s a shame, too, because it probably means the writing won’t be so good, and
I really wanted to have something profound to say about this movie.
Ok, so maybe I never have anything profound to say about any
movie, but this film is better than most, and it seems like it would lend
itself to some kind of Great Writing. As magnificent as it was, though, I still
have to argue that the original film was better. This is by no means a slight
against the sequel, just an acknowledgment that The Godfather was one of the greatest movies ever made, and it’d be
hard to top.
The Godfather Part Two
is in some sense a continuation of The Godfather, in that it spends most of its time focusing on Michael’s ascent
to absolute power over the family. In addition, though, there are multiple
flashbacks to the life of young Vito Corleone, this time played by Robert De
Niro. Some have described the stories of Vito and Michael as being parallel;
there is some truth to this, but I would argue that their timelines are going
in opposite directions.
