I Hated this Movie

Rating: 1/10 (3 April 2005)

I read a while back that "The Godfather" was a favorite book of an author I enjoy. I hence picked up a copy, and was enthralled. I had heard how great the movie was so I watched it, and I was appalled.
I grant you, the movie follows the book closely, but it doesn't understand what makes the book work. Most of the actors know what to do, and Al Pacino is perfect, but Marlon Brando is clueless. Vito Corleone is NOT a thinly veiled thug. He is a caring man, who is forced to do some horrible things. But in the end he accomplishes far more good than evil. This only makes Micheal's transformation in the book more horrible, because the deaths he commits serve no such higher purpose.
Also, scenes of great importance are removed, Johnny Fontane is barely in it, Santino's girlfriend has a cameo, and the Doctor is nowhere to be found. I know these character's don't directly effect the plot, but they give it an emotional foundation to build upon. I cared about them more than any of the other characters. I know Coppola had to cut the book down for time to do a movie, but he would have been better off doing a mini-series instead.