It doesn't hold a candle to the original but yet is one of the finest sequels of all time.

Rating: 8/10 (9 February 2018)

It's baggy, wholly unnecessary and doesn't hold a candle to the original but yet is also an example of one of the finest sequels of all time and a phenomenal piece of film-making regardless of its few flaws. The 'Godfather: Part II (1974)' is an oddity in more ways than one, since it simply shouldn't work but totally does. There's almost no way you could believe that the piece powers past the three-hour mark, which it does thanks mainly to its unneeded and honestly less interesting flashback plots seemingly disconnected from the main story. There's not a moment in the foremost narrative I'd suggest cutting even for a second, and even those flashback bits are breathlessly entertaining (in a much more instantly gratifying way than the slow-burning main narrative.) Every second of the picture adds up to an experience that seems sweepingly massive yet strangely intimate, an effortlessly engaging examination of the fall of an empire and the nostalgic sadness at the heart of a man who's soul is slowly turning to stone. 8/10