What Makes "The Godfather Part 2" Great.

How do you follow up on a film as powerful as The Godfather and find a way to expand the already powerful story of family, murder, and tragedy? These were the questions that Francis Ford Coppola faced when making Part 2, and he was able to answer those questions and then some. The Godfather Part 2 is every bit as masterful as it's predecessor if not better. It effectively expands the themes present in the first film and takes them to a whole new level, and it is this reason and more that The Godfather Part 2 is the greatest sequel of all time.

Acting as both a sequel and a prequel, Par 2 takes place a few years after the first film with Micheal Corleone (Al Pacino) having inherited his father empire and dealing with things such as business expansion in Cuba, dealing with business rival Hyman Roth (Lee Strausburg), and completing a story arc of corruption that was started in the first film that causes him to slowly lose his family. The prequel part of the film follows a young Vito Corleone's (Robert De Niro) arrival to America and his rise to power in the Mafia.

The main challenge that Coppola faced was finding a way to make a sequel and a prequel work without either story distracting from the other. In that respect, he succeeds and then some. Both of the stories are equally powerful and perfectly shows the main theme of The Godfather, and that is the importance of family. Both help to create a powerful story of a father and a son, with the building of an empire by a father, and the destruction of it by his son. Micheal's story is for is not as much of a decline of power but rather the conclusion of his arc of the tragic hero that was started in part 1. He does all sorts of questionable things throughout the film but is always assuring himself and others around him it's for the family. The problem is though that Micheal can't seem to understand the difference of what's best for the family and what's best for his own shellfish desire for power and revenge. Vito Corleone as we in the flashbacks is much more of an honorable man and family man. When we first see him as an adult he works an honest job with a loving wife and child. We see this integrity when he is forced to quit his job when the local Don forces Vito's boss to hire his nephew. Vito's boss is deeply sorry for Vito, but Vito doesn't blame him and thanks to him for being so good to him. His boss even offers him food for him and his family, but Vito declines. We still see this when he becomes the Don of the neighborhood and a desperate older woman asks Vito to keep her landlord from kicking her out on the street. Viro is at first reluctant but agrees to after seeing how desperate she is. He meets the landlord and instead of having him killed, he simply makes him an offer of money in return for letting her stay and tells him to ask around the neighborhood about how he always returns a favor. The landlord then realizes that Vito is a very powerful figure and fearfully apologizes to Vito and says he will allow the woman to live there for cheaper rent, and Vito excepts and leaves it at that. This shows Vito while a powerful crime boss is a fair and honest man who respects those less fortunate and will do everything he can before resorting to murder.

The performances are all amazing, with many of the cast in the great ensemble in part 1 returning here, as well as some new faces too. Al Pacino gives possibly his career-defining performance as Micheal, and most of his performance is very quiet and often without words. Pacino simply allows his facial expression and gestures to tell Micheal's story, and in times we see that voice raise in that classic Pacino freak out, it's very powerful as if the sleeping giant as finally awakened. These aspects of Pacino's performance are best shown in one of the best scenes in the movie where his wife Kay (Diane Keaton) revels to Micheal that she had an abortion out of fear for bringing another child into their violent world. Pacino's effortlessly turns his face of sympathy into anger and stikes her in range in one of the rare times Micheal loses his calm demeanor. Robert De Niro is also great as with big shoes to fill as a young Vito Corleone. Like Pacino, De Niro does his best acting without words, and when there are words, there not even in English. De Niro has the tough challenge of showing a great character established in the first film by a great performance from Marlon Brando, and show us aspects of that character here. In that Regard, De Niro succeeds and then some as I can perfectly see how Vito got from here to what we see from Brando in part 1. Many of the characters that were in part 1 also have a lot more to do here. Tallia Shire who was almost a background character in part 1 is given a much bigger role hear, and John Cazale as Fredo gets a lot more to do here as his character plays a major part in Micheal's story. There are also some new faces here, with the legendary Lee Strausburg making the most of his limited screen time in his juicy role as Hyman Roth. There's also Micheal V. Gazzo who provides some great comic relief as the highly entertaining Frank Pentalgili.

The film is also beautiful to look at. Coppola and cinematographer Gorden Willls show some amazing use of shadow and color. We see this in gorgeous looking scenes such as Micheal sitting alone in the boathouse and in the flashbacks with a distinct bright yellow color palette which separates the flashbacks from the rest of the story. The music by Nino Rito is also back and better than ever, with the music helping to make some amazing scenes, most notably in the scene where Micheal hugs Fredo at their mother's funeral, it's a truly emotional and beautiful scene that soon turns tragic when Micheal seconds later turns his eye to his hitman, and that along with the sinking of the music lets us know that Fredo's faith is sealed.

Along with the original, The Godfather Part 2 stands as one of the most essential films ever made. With the final moments of the film perfectly ending not just the film, but the entire saga (not counting Part 3), with the closing shot of Micheal sitting alone outside his estate with a contemplating look on his face, the films leaves us with the question of why did all this have to happen? A truly tragic and sad ending indeed, but a fitting one that perfectly closes this epic saga of crime and tragedy.