Didn't get it!

Rating: 5/10 (29 October 2004)

Call me crazy, call me whatever, but I simply didn't get the movie. I think I know the reason why. After seeing 1000s of rip-offs and the motives inside this movie explored to the death in countless movies since the 70s, the initial hand-kissing scene looks pretty trite. Or the making an offer you can't refuse? Puhleeze!
The movie is quite slow. I know it is all about the atmosphere, but it really is nothing special. Neither does the mumbling of Marlon Brando convey any special significance to me. Yes, he is remorseful for being a powerful leader of a criminal empire and assigning this fate to his son. Boo hoo hoo. If you don't become a crook you don't have these kinds of problems. And yes, we all get it. The aggressive son is doomed to be killed in retaliation, the ineffectual son is doomed to remain in the shadows and the resourceful son is destined to take over the "family business". He simply kills off his adversaries without it ever being made clear how he outsmarted them or why no one ever came for him in a similar fashion. He actually turns into quite a ruthless son-of-a-...
But there is something more fundamental about why the movie isn't "doing anything" for me. The entire notion of "honor" and "chivalry" among criminals. It's completely fake. Now that America is mostly out of the grip of such people (not so in my own country I'm afraid, but still far from Chicago of the 20s) glorifying them is easy. The truth however is quite different. Criminals usually talk of honor, but their actions are based on much baser things. And they always have an excuse for why they ended up being crooks. Don't get suckered into believing movies like these convey any truth.
Rating 5/10
Scale: 10 MASTERPIECE, 9 Excellent, 8 Good, 7 OK, 6 Adequate, 5 Average, 4 Mediocre, 3 Poor, 2 Bad, 1 HORRIBLE