The Godfather Part II (1974): Shira's Take

I don't get it. How can anyone possibly think that this movie is better than the Godfather? I honestly think that this movie is worse in every way. No, scratch that. Talia Shire is slightly less annoying in this movie. But Marlon Brando's Vito is way better than Robert DeNiro's (though all that background was definitely interesting), and I'd rather sympathize with Michael than see him as this ice king. In the first movie, you see his amazing transformation, and it's so sad and powerful. Where is the equivalent in the Godfather Part II? Maybe it's like the people whose genetic code makes cilantro taste like soap to them...it's just not in me to understand what's so great about this movie.

In addition to judging it as part of this Godfather saga, I also made sure to keep an open mind and watch it as a movie, separate from the first. As a movie, not as a sequel, it was definitely good. There was a lot of great drama--Robert Duvall's Tom Hagen and Talia Shire's Connie Corleone started to actually feel like substantial characters. And, of course, John Cazale's Fredo. Fredo is really the star of this movie. He is the only character we genuinely feel for. The whole Hyman Roth and Frank Pentangeli business was a little bit hard to follow, and I think I'm gonna have to watch it again to fully grasp it all. I think my favorite scene was when Tom Hagen went to Senator Geary, who had been with a prostitute when she was murdered. It's implied that Michael orchestrated this to get Geary on his side as an ally, and it is just so totally messed up (in a way that I love movies to be).

I think the biggest problem about this movie is that 1958-1959 Nevada is just not as pretty as 1945-early 50s in New York. The colors of the first movie are so much eerier and prettier. Everything about this movie felt very much like my least favorite part of the first movie--when Michael goes to talk to Moe Greene in Vegas. Trashy, bright t-shirts do not mesh well with elegant Sicilian mafia families. The only shots I remember loving in this movie took place in the prequel portion with Robert DeNiro. Anyway, it's an 8/10.