A great film, though not as great as some will say.

Rating: 8/10 (29 May 2006)

The Godfather is a story surrounding an organized crime family named Corleone in the 1940's. The patriarch, Don Vito Corleone, his loyal son Sonny, his daughter Connie who marries the abusive Carlo Rizzi, and his legitimate son Michael who is not involved in the family business. When Michael returns home from the war and Don Corleone is nearly killed by a rival gang, he slowly finds himself being sucked into the life. Though many people will say The Godfather is the greatest movie of all time, it's not. To tell you the truth, it's not an exciting movie at all. It's not action packed, and not a whole lot happens in its 3 hour running time. However, it is a brilliantly made film with some amazing acting, and portrays the most realistic view of the mafia in film history.
Let's start off with the acting. Al Pacino who is now recognized as one of the best actors of all time got his start as Michael Corleone in this film. The movie mainly focuses on his getting sucked into the family business. Al Pacino plays the role brilliantly showing both his tempted side and his reluctant side. All of the supporting actors in this film are awesome. There are really solid performances by James Caan as Sonny who has the coolest scene in the film, and Robert Duvall as Tom. Of course, nothing bad can be said about the late Marlon Brando's performance as Don Vito Corleone. This is Brando's most famous role and for good reason. His genius portrayal will go down in history as one of the greatest acting jobs of all time.
The realism of the film is what also makes it good. This is the most realistic view of the mafia you will ever see on film. Most mafia films portray the action side of the story with all the hit men and explosions and gunfights. The Godfather doesn't show a lot of that. It focuses mainly on the business side of things. It shows how serious mobsters really are about their jobs.
So, even though The Godfather isn't the greatest film of all time, it's one of the best made.
8.5/10