Movie Review: The Godfather Trilogy
Barring the opinions of a few obnoxious contrarians few things are more universally agreed upon than the view that The Godfather and The Godfather Part 2 are absolute master classes of cinema. I recently re-watched the entire trilogy and this view was strongly reaffirmed. The real debate has always been which of the first two films is superior. A strong case could be made for either one but in my view the first film takes the cake. I say this simply because it just stands alone so well. It never needed a sequel; the ending was absolutely perfect with Michael embracing his dark path and closing the door on his wife after lying to her face. The performances are all top notch, particularly Pacino and Brando. The music, the directing, the atmosphere — it’s just such a rich film with so many layers thematically and artistically.
The Godfather Part 2 does something truly remarkable: It is both an excellent standalone film and a sequel that makes the first movie even better. The latter it accomplishes through the flashbacks chronicling Vito’s journey to becoming the Don we met in the first film. To see the first film again after seeing that journey will give you an incredible appreciation both for the character and the performances of Brando and DeNiro. Even more incredible are the parallels between Vito and Michael. Both are reluctant crime bosses. Both are unafraid to get their hands dirty. Both are shrewd leaders able to anticipate their enemies. Both are willing to do anything to protect the family. And it is here where the two characters diverge, for Vito never has to deal with the same level of treachery as Michael. Though Vito loses his first born son, he dies in relative peace, playing with his grandson in a garden. Meanwhile his son Michael must endure the unspeakable tragedy of betrayal by family not once but twice.
It makes sense that the Michael we meet in The Godfather Part 3 is a somewhat broken man, racked by guilt and health problems. In fact Part 3 is full of things that ‘make sense’ and even a number of interesting ideas and concepts. The ambition of Vincenco the illegitimate son of Sonny, Michael’s desire to seek the church to sanctify his family in old age, jealous crime bosses pulling Michael back into the ugly business — all of it works on paper but is just executed so poorly in the third film. There are so many call backs and homages — another big Italian party with singing, another trip to Sicily, another religious parade, another passing of the torch to a new Don scene — it’s all the same images just with less meaning. Part 3 is truly The Last Jedi of the franchise. It is a deconstruction of Michael Corleone. The once proud protagonist now spends half the film begging for the approval of the same sanctimonious ex-wife he kicked out in the previous film for secretly aborting his child. He exerts zero influence over his children who both openly defy him. He is shouty and feckless, casually blaspheming and incapable of even doing a proper confession (a lot of the Catholic stuff is laughably bad. It’s like they did zero homework) Would that the film had been farcically bad. Instead it is just aggressively mediocre.
If you have never seen any of these films, watch the first two and skip the third.
Grade: A+ / A+ / C-
