There are, in fact, a great many good things to look at in the film. But they don't add up to anything very impressive. I came away with the feeling I had been shown somebody's family-snapshot album with all the pictures pasted up in the wrong order.
An admirable, responsible production, less emotionally disturbing than its predecessor, but a grand historical epic studying the nature of power in the United States' heritage.
Breathtaking in scope, Part II also shows the early life of the Don, brilliantly portrayed by Robert De Niro, as he flees Sicily and sails for New York. These sequences have the grandeur of a silent movie by DW Griffith or Erich von Stroheim.
This is quite simply one of the saddest movies ever made, a tale of loss, grief and absolute loneliness, an unflinching stare into the darkest moral abyss.
It goes much deeper than The Godfather in analyzing the twisted mentalities of these men who pervert the capitalist system for their own gain. The film is richer in texture and gives more evidence of social awareness.
