The Godfather is the movie that most like to insist is the greatest, but to do so is to ignore the true masterpiece of the trilogy. Writing off The Godfather Part II is to miss the reasoning behind having these interconnected pictures; which is to say, The Godfather is half a movie; The Godfather Part II is its essential act two. As a result, everything in The Godfather Part II becomes twice as brilliant and far more complex. This movie and its story are essentially the whole point of having the first film The Godfather Part II deals with Michael's ascension to the top and subsequent struggle to run the business left to him in the wake of his father's death. The biggest surprise here is that the film works as a beautiful cross between a prequel and a sequel - the film switches back between an insanely good Robert De Niro and an insanely good Al Pacino in order to craft an epic panorama of the Corleone family, its legacy and its history. It's all very Shakespearean. Not just the greatest sequel ever made, then, but the greatest crime movie of all-time. Made an omission that you'd like to see us sleepin' with the fishes for? Let us know in the comments below.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
