3. Al Pacino - The Godfather Part II
We became familiar with Michael Corleone in the first part of The Godfather trilogy, he was initially the fresh-faced youngest son of Don Corleone who had no interest in the family business. Across the first film, Michael descends into the amoral depths of a criminal life, set in motion by his assassination of McCluskey and Sollozzo. By the end of the film, Michael is the new head of the family - his father and Sonny dead and Fredo deemed incompetent to run the business. We feel sorry for Michael in the first instalment, he never wanted the violence, he was an angry young man who was seeing his family torn apart in a hail of bullets - Pacino's sympathetic portrayal in the first part contrasts starkly to the more demonic Michael Corleone he plays in The Godfather Part II. The Michael Corleone that rules the screen in The Godfather Part II is a long way from the impressionable young man who became an unwilling participant in organised crime in the first film. Pacino shows Michael as ruthless, manipulative and a bully. The true evil of the character explodes when he brutalises Kay for having an abortion - the fire in Al Pacino's eyes during that scene is haunting - and when he sentences Fredo with the kiss of death, his anger is as apparent as his heartbreak. Pacino develops the complex character with intrinsic skill, dragging him darker and darker into a realm from which he cannot return. It's impossible to imagine another actor committing Michael's actions as Pacino is flawless and the pain and passion of the performance are unforgettable.