"I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse."

Rating: 10/10 (4 July 2014)

The Godfather is often considered to be one of the greatest films of all time and for good reason. It's a timeless classic that doesn't feel like it dated a day, only getting better with each passing watch. It is Coopla's magnum opus, showing the potential that cinema has as a storytelling art form.
It revolutionised narrative as rather than telling the story of one character, Coopla built up a life style by showing these criminals in both their everyday life and when under threat. The story spans 5 years, showing us every detail of how the mafia operates. We see everything from their joy at a wedding to their shaded business meetings where death is talked about callously without guilt.
When violence is used Coppola never holds back. He will show every gruesome detail with faces gasping for oxygen, the blood trickling down their skin and the intense screams of pain of the victims. It is this realism and details that make many of the most memorable scenes as it was one of the first times that a film used such realistic violence.
The film probably has one of the greatest casts assembled to a film with so many memorable characters. Even with a 3 hour runtime, many of these characters don't even play that large a role in the story or even get too much screen time. But the actors get their roles down so incredibly that they build their own character through the way they speak or the hesitance of talking against a powerful figure like the godfather.
Throughout the film doesn't have a single weak performance. But of course the stand out of the cast was Brando. I remains one of cinemas most memorable performances, with his introducing shot alone being one of the most recognisable images in cinema with his calm reaction to being asked to kill a man. He becomes the image of power inciting fear into even his own assassins who stutter when talking to him.
Certainly Brando is the film's most iconic role, though sometimes overlooked is Pacino with one of the most memorable transformations in film going from a respected war veteran to violent crime lord. Far more emotional than his father he is hesitant about violence at first, but quickly becomes accustomed to the violence of his life of crime. By the end of the film he doesn't second think killing his own step brother as an act of vengeance. Pacino was perfect at emphasising this change with both the tone of his voice and rage in his eyes creating the real image of a man who has changed over the years.
But it's not quality alone that has made this film so memorable. What makes The Godfather such an icon of cinema because it represents what all films should try to accomplish, by taking risks that no other film would make. Coppola was never afraid to show the detailed violence or take risks by experimenting with narrative, because he wanted to make his own unique vision on screen. It's for this reason that it has become timeless, representing a masterclass in filmmaking and reminding us all of the innovation that makes us love cinema.