10 Most Drastic Character Transformations Between Movies
3. Michael Corleone - The Godfather Part II & The Godfather Part III
The Godfather's Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) is one of the most iconic and richly-drawn characters in all of cinema history, a character who metamorphoses both physically and spiritually over the course of Francis Ford Coppola's epic crime trilogy.
Michael's emotional change is more of a slow-burn across the three films, as repeated betrayals and deaths in his own family prompt him to harden after he becomes the don of the Corleone family.
But with the first two movies taking place a few short years apart, naturally Michael looks more-or-less the same, yet with The Godfather Part III taking place 20 years later, makeup effects had to be used to make a well-aged 50-year-old Pacino resemble a worn-out, 60-year-old Michael.
The grey hair and weathered skin do a fantastic job of selling the physical effect Michael's "job" has had on him, while he spends most of the movie trying to make amends for his violent past.
This of course culminates in the film's final scene, where we jump forward another two decades, and an elderly Michael - again, made up appropriately - dies alone in Italy.
Whatever you make of the third Godfather film, it convincingly conveys the ravages of time alongside the additional price Michael paid for being the man at the top.