An offer you can refuse

Rating: 5/10 (5 February 2019)

If you are going to watch unlikeable characters do unlikeable things, they ought to at least have some charisma. In the original this was provided by Vito and Sonny, whose presence here is sorely missed. Exascerbating the issue is that Michael has no further character development, with his transition from innocent son to murderous mafia overloard already complete, and nothing new added. There is not even any thematic progression - it ends on the exact same note as the original - that this is a bad life to live.
The film attempts to make up for these shortcomings by increasing scope, and we travel all across the us, to Sicily and Cuba, looking for other crooked rich guys to murder - I mean - do business with. With flashbacks to the younger years of Vito Corleone, this film is really two films in one. The flashbacks do nothing to aid the modern story, nor seem very believable, but in location and character are far more interesting, and had the filmmakers focused their sole attention there, might have made a very good prequel. I do love the sets, costumes and colour - not unlike an old oil painting - but it feels truncated. They must have been looking everywhere for scenes to cut, given its run time.