The Godfather: Part II Blu-ray Disc Review

karl — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:47:03 +0000

THE GODFATHER (1974, Blu-ray released February 2, 2010 – MSRP $39.99)

I have strong feelings about The Godfather: Part II and I’m not sure where to start talking about them.

First, I guess I want to address the popular opinion that it’s a better film than its predecessor. It is not. It is inferior in many ways; the story is at times confusing and unnecessarily convoluted for the sake of adding ‘intrigue’; the characters behave insincerely, their actions often in service to the movement of the plot rather than their own hearts, and the ending is weak and unsatisfying.

At its best (and it’s very, very good), the film is a thoroughly engrossing look at the lives of a father and his son. Their journeys to manhood are paralleled through a series of flashbacks, each man defining himself, in his own way, through family. But times are changing, as Michael tells his mother, and the concept of family may no longer be what he thought it was.

The portrayal of Michael Corleone in The Godfather: Part II seems overly melodramatic to me, and that criticism is aimed not at Al Pacino‘s performance, which is every bit as good as it was in the first film, but at the script. I get the impression that the entire story was orchestrated to culminate in Michael’s deplorable act at the end of the movie (I’m trying not to spoil anything for new viewers), which would be fine if that act was driven by any sort of believable motive. I can only surmise that Michael has been driven insane by the series of tragedies that have befallen him in his past, because nothing in his character justifies his eventual actions. It’s such an inelegant leap in reasoning that it makes the whole movement of the plot feel forced and unnatural.

As for the ending, I consider it weak only relative to the first film’s gut-punch of a closing scene. In theory, Part II‘s ending makes sense: I want to see father and son on screen together after watching their stories unfold and play off of one another. But Marlon Brando‘s not in this movie, and no amount of trickery is going to make up for that fact. His presence is required to make that scene work and without him it feels cheap and empty. I get it – they couldn’t get Brando and they did the best they could. But it’s still weak.

Whew. That’s a lot of complaining about what is, for all its flaws, an amazing movie. Where Michael’s story flounders, Vito’s story is magnificent; the scenes in old New York are riveting and every scene that Robert DeNiro is in is memorable.

The Blu-ray presentation is as beautiful as it was on the Godfather: Part I disc – everything is rendered in crisp detail, but the rich, velvety textures and deep blacks maintain the softness of film. We couldn’t ask for a better viewing experience than what’s offered here.

As with the previous disc, this one lacks almost all of the Special Features found in the Godfather Trilogy boxed set. All that remains is a director’s commentary track, which is a good listen, but if you’re a superfan and you want more behind-the-scenes stuff, you’ll have to go beyond these individual releases and buy the whole collection. In fact, even if you’re NOT a superfan but you just want to see the third movie you’ll have to spring for the boxed set because Paramount has no plans to release Part 3 on its own as they did for the first two. I guess I can’t fault their reasoning because, really, who goes out and ONLY buys Godfather: Part 3?

Nobody, that’s who.

The Godfather Blu-ray Disc Review

karl — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:47:42 +0000

THE GODFATHER (1972, Blu-ray released February 2, 2010 – MSRP $39.99)

You don’t need me to review the story of The Godfather for you. Chances are, you’ve seen it and you already know that it’s Francis Ford Coppola‘s masterpiece and arguably one of the best films ever made. The last scene of the film is one of my favourite movie endings of all time, and it still gives me chills after countless viewings.

The last time I watched The Godfather was when the Blu-ray box set was released last year and it was a revelation. The film is shot in such deep shadow that no VHS or DVD version was ever able to convey the cinematographer’s original intent, and that’s where this release really shines – lush detail mixed with the blackest of blacks to immerse the viewer in the authenticity of post-war America. There are a couple of scenes (notably the scene in the hospital with Enzo the baker) that look a bit grainy, but I’m pretty sure this is true to the original negatives and the lighting conditions at the time of shooting and, as such, as faithful a representation of the film as possible.

Having seen the Blu-ray edition of the film in the aforementioned box set, I was interested to see how the individual release held up. I sat down to watch it with Amy, who had never seen the movie before, and we dimmed the lights. It was actually more of a treat for me to see her reactions to scenes I’d seen a million times, and the fact that she stayed awake for the whole thing is a testament to Coppola’s honest storytelling and further indication of The Godfather‘s lasting appeal.

The film is exactly the same as what I saw in the boxed collection – beautiful picture quality and sound – the best this movie will probably ever look. The only real difference between the two releases is the lack of any real Special Features on the standalone disc. There’s an audio commentary by Coppola, which is excellent and definitely worth a listen, but that’s it! The wealth of extras from the collected edition are gone. No more ‘making of’ featurettes (some of these were almost feature-length on their own!), no more talks with the writers and composers (my favourite features, showing footage of the creative process and real insight into the craft of filmmaking) and no more ‘family tree’ extras (an in-depth look at who’s who in the Corleone family). Sure, I could do without some of this stuff, but the featurettes would have been nice, especially as Amy was full of questions and hungry for more information following our viewing.

As a fan of the first film and less so of the sequels, I thought I’d be content to own this standalone disc, but due to the lack of additional stuff (and the quality of that missing stuff) I’d recommend that any fan of The Godfather just pick up the trilogy box set. It’s worth it – even if you never bother to crack open Part 3.

The Blu-ray Blog » Richard S. Castellano

The Godfather: Part II Blu-ray Disc Review

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