1972 was the year it was released and till this day it has remained it's strength, it's magic, it's glory and doom. No need to review it, this is just one long tribute

Rating: 10/10 (6 April 2019)

2 word advice: watch it. Just watch it.
The rest of this review isnt a review, it is a tribute to one of the most impressive movies I have ever seen. And I have seen it many many times by now and it still stands strong to this very day.
Choose the restored version if you can. It has 4K images, beautiful picture quality! However great a classic this movie might be, the original movie wasnt preserved very well at all. Yes, it seems astounding to hear that such a great classic wasnt preserved with care by the filmstudio or the director himself, but when they wanted to restore the picture they literally had to search over the whole world to find parts of the original copies of this movie that were in good enough state to be used for the restoration version in 4K.
The photographer of The Godfather was Gordon Willis, famously called "The master of Darkness" ever since he made this classic, because of his extraordinary use of low lighting techiques with very deep colors of black and dark. Especially the opening scenes with Marlon Brando are masterful.
2 more things I want to mention which just mesmirise me time and again when I watch it. First, those eyes of Al Pacino. Those killershark eyes. Never before or after have I ever seen Al Pacino look so psychopatically stonecold as in The Godfather. Ofcourse Marlon Brando gets lauded for his excellent performance, but Brando oozes sympahty with his kind looks. Al Pacino just is a killer personified. It freaks me out again and again, he has become the ultimate personification of the ruthless businesslike killer mentality of the mob.
Last but not least, I wanna applaud the soundtrack, that mesmirising soundtrack. Anybody knows it. I have heard it a zillion times and it gives me goosebumps time and again. Not of this earth, so beautiful. And that can be said as well of this entire magnificent classic: unprecedented power and beauty. BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVO!