Second. Best.

Rating: 10/10 (10 September 2001)

I'm a decade or so too young to remember the cinematic days of the first two Godfather movies, but I bet that when rumours of a sequel first began to circulate, many moviegoers would have doubted the need for it and would have had serious doubts over whether it could possibly do justice to the masterpiece that was the first film.
Such sequel let-downs as Jurassic Park II and Die Hard II had sadly all become part-and-parcel of my 1990s moviegoing experience. The only rule of sequels which I was familiar with as I grew up was that they'd almost certainly get progressively worse from movie to movie. So, after loading the cassette for Godfather Part II, can you blame me for hitting the play button on my VCR with some trepidation?
Yes you can! I should have known better. The Godfather Part II is such an outstanding movie that, in fact, to call it a sequel to the first movie does it little justice. Call me clichéd, but 'companion piece' is indeed the best way to describe it in relation to the first. In terms of scope and magnitude of its vision, I don't think it has a rival, anywhere.

It is also one of those movies in which every little department is so perfect, that without even one of them, you can imagine the whole thing collapsing.
Nothing needs to be said that hasn't already been uttered innumerable times regarding the casting and their respective performances. Pacino and De Niro are simply mesmerising with Duvall, Cazale and Strasberg providing the rock-solid support. Coppola and Puzo's script charts Michael's moral demise so graphically, it almost pains you to think back to the squeaky-clean war hero presented in The Godfather's opening. As for the bold move to write flashbacks, they serve a hugely meaningful purpose throughout the movie and without them, the main storyline wouldn't impact half as much as it does. Nino Rota's music captures in just one theme (that which first appears as the young Vito approaches Ellis Island with fellow asylum-seekers) the grandness and sinking tragedy of this movie, and his incidental music is magnificent without being intrusive.
Perhaps the greatest individual plaudit should be reserved for Gordon Willis's cinematography; It captures the mood of the film perfectly and he betters even his work on the original. In itself it could be labelled a Cinematographer's Bible. And anyone who has borne witness to that final shot of the movie will know exactly what I'm talking about, but for now, that's for my fellow sequel-doubters out there to discover. An unparallelled masterpiece.