Shaun's project of getting me to watch all three Godfather movies continues apace and we made it through the 2 DVDs(!) of The Godfather: Part II. After my complaints about the transfer quality of the DVD of the first movie, I had tried to find a copy of the Coppola restoration of this one but was thwarted. The second movie, as included in the 2000 box set, isn't quite as bad as the first, but there are still some noticeable visual problems.
Even though Part II is 25 minutes longer than the first movie, it seems to move along at a faster clip—maybe because of the intertwining storylines of Michael's continuing story and the origin story of Vito Corleone. The Vito sections of the movie held the most promise for me, but were the most frustrating in the end. I feel like we understand Michael's motivations, flawed and tragic as they may be. But Vito remains an enigma despite all we learn about his early life. Did he feel forced by circumstance into his life of crime, or was he drawn to it? It never really seemed clear to me. Certainly he seemed to move jarringly easily from petty theft to carefully planned execution. What's up, I ask, with that?
If nothing else, I'm getting an urge from all these movies to just go read Mario Puzo's original book and get this story un-edited.
FuzzyCo grade: A-
