Wonderful film (possible spoilers)

Rating: 10/10 (12 July 2000)

Is The Godfather Part II better than the first film? It is difficult to decide, but there is no disputing that these two films must always be considered together, as part of a greater whole.
When first I viewed both parts, I was a teenager. I found the first film to be much more satisfying. My initial argument was that part I covered a longer period in less screen time, and was therefore better-paced and more interesting. Since then, however, my opinion has changed somewhat.
I was able to see both films back-to-back a couple of years ago, and found that Part II really had moved up in my ranking. I have heard the argument that part I ended with Michael's full corruption, and therefore didn't need to be sequelized. However, I feel Part II is much more the second half of the story than just an overlong epilogue, as some people say.
While THE GODFATHER: THE COMPLETE EPIC (parts I & II chronologized) is a good telling of the story, this film is stronger for the juxtaposition of Vito's rise to glory with Michael's fall from grace. To watch for six and a half hours, only to see Pacino's Michael turn from the young, optimistic, "It's my family, Kay. It's not me" boy to the cold, lonely man who has just had his own brother murdered, it is one of the most affecting transformations in film history. In the third film (unnecessary and inferior, to be sure, but not a bad picture), the only truly moving scene is Michael's confession in the garden, which refers to the events of Part II. The end of Part III is even a pale copy of the final 1959 scene in Part II, with Michael on the bench, surveying his dying empire.
The final scene in Part II, the flashback to Pearl Harbor day, is perhaps the most touching reminder of the man Michael once could have grown up to be, especially after seeing what he has become: fatherless, brotherless, and without his estranged wife and children. And ultimately powerless. A beautiful elegy for a life that could have been.