A True Masterpiece

Rating: Null/10 (7 March 2005)

I watched The Godfather for the first time on DVD the other day and was simply blown away from the very start. It had a quality that no other film has and much of this is accomplished by the brilliance of the director, Francis Ford Coppola, and actors Marlon Brando and the astonishing performance of Al Pacino, who many doubted at the time. All great films require a great beginning and this one had, in my opinion, the best yet with the very first line, 'I believe in America', and then the very slow draw back of the camera to reveal The Godfather (Brando). I was worried for Al Pacino at the start of the film whether he would be shadowed out of this movie by the brilliance of Brando, but all doubt quickly went from my mind after watching him in the restaurant scene. The way that he sat there so calmly to the people he was talking to but to the audience he built up an incredible amount of tension. This was important for him to do this because this part of the film was the defining moment of this characters transition, from not wanting to be involved at the start and now he is doing his fathers job personally.