The Godfather Series

Rating: 10/10 (2 October 2000)

What makes this movie so good? Just about everything. Good acting, good direction, good story, good development...it's weird, but this is one of those cases where the sequel makes it better. Godfather II is the best sequel ever made, and I just don't think you can really say anything about this movie until you've seen that one. Really, you have to look at the first one as the rise of Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), and the second as his fall. Despite the fact that he doesn't lose power, he loses almost everything else. You don't really get much character development of Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) in this movie, because it's all being saved for the sequel (in the form of Robert De Niro). The way that the two are intertwined is just absolutely brilliant. As a movie by itself, The Godfather is still a masterpiece. One of the things that I think makes it so compelling is the blurring of the line between good and evil. Just about everyone in this movie is a bad guy. But there are good bad guys and bad bad guys, and we're on the outside trying to decide which ones we want to root for. We end up cheering on the Corleones, the focal point of the movie, but it's very reluctant as the climactic scene unfolds. I found myself right there with Kay (Diane Keaton) at the end, torn between what I know to be right and what has to be done for survival. I cannot imagine this movie being any better. It's fascinating, and the sequel does not do anything to diminish that sense of awe. It's a timeless classic about the battle between good and evil. But does evil really win out? It's impossible to tell.