The Godfather Part II (1974)

Let me be straight with you: this is one of the greatest films ever made, and I still find myself fidgeting during the middle stretch. That probably says more about me than it does about the film, but I'd rather be honest about it than pretend every single frame held me in a vice grip. Because the truth is, The Godfather Part II is extraordinary, and it also has passages where my attention starts to drift. Both things are true, and I've made peace with that.

What keeps pulling me back, every time, is Al Pacino. What he does with Michael Corleone here is genuinely staggering. He barely raises his voice across the whole film, and yet there's this cold, consuming menace that just radiates off him in every scene. The transformation from the first film is complete, and he plays the conclusion of that arc with such control and precision that it almost doesn't feel like acting at all. It feels like watching a man actually hollow himself out from the inside. There are close-ups in this film where you can see Michael calculating, weighing, deciding, and Pacino does it all without a word. It's the kind of performance that makes you wonder how anyone else in Hollywood ever got a look in during that era.

I've gone on about Pacino's work before, whether in Scent of a Woman (1992) or elsewhere, but this is him at his most disciplined and, I'd argue, his most devastating. The louder, showier Pacino of later years is fun in its own way, but this version of him, controlled and terrifying, is something else entirely.

The parallel storytelling structure, cutting between Michael's story and the younger Vito's rise, is ambitious and it works. The Vito sequences have a warmth and a melancholy that provide a real counterpoint to everything Michael is becoming. You understand, watching them side by side, exactly what has been lost, and what Michael has chosen to sacrifice to hold onto power. It's clever, meaningful filmmaking.

And yet. Somewhere in the middle, the film starts to feel its length. Scenes that are clearly important, clearly crafted with enormous care, start to blur together a little for me. I've watched this multiple times now and I still hit the same wall at roughly the same point. I'm not going to dress that up. If you're the kind of viewer who can let a film wash over you and trust it completely, you probably won't feel it. I'm not always that viewer, and this film occasionally asks more patience of me than I naturally have.

For context on where this sits, I'd put The Godfather ahead of it. The first film is tighter, more propulsive, and I find it the more satisfying watch from beginning to end. Part II is grander and in some ways more ambitious, but ambition and grip aren't always the same thing. As for The Godfather Part III, we won't dwell on that one.

None of this is a knock, not really. A film can have a slow middle and still be a four and a half star film. It can test your patience and still leave you floored by what it's achieved. The final scenes here are among the most quietly devastating I've ever seen, and Pacino carries them without breaking a sweat. The whole thing lands with real weight, and that weight stays with you long after.

Four and a half stars. A genuine classic of cinema, with one caveat from someone who'll always find those middle hours a harder watch than they probably should be.

Rating: ★★★★½  | Year: 1974  | Watched: 2025-05-13

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Related on Movies With Macca

More from Francis Ford Coppola: The Godfather Part III (1990) · The Godfather (1972)
More with Al Pacino: Scent of a Woman (1992) · Cruising (1980) · Insomnia (2002) · Scarecrow (1973)
More from the 1970s: Fantastic Planet (1973) · Here and Elsewhere (1976) · Italianamerican (1974) · Punishment Park (1971)
More drama: Viy (1967) · Wonder (2017) · A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Beautiful Boy (2018)
More crime: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Angst (1983) · Stolen Face (1952) · Cairo Station (1958)