You're probably in a state of pure shock that I am just now getting around to watching "The Godfather". In truth, there's a good reason. I really got burned out on movies in general, opting to watch certain ones that I already knew must be good, such as Scarface and Back To The Future (odd mixture, yes). But I really did take a liking to the acting skills of Al Pacino. Back in the days of HD-DVD, I ended up buying pretty much every movie he had except Godfather (which hadn't yet been released on the high definition formats), and really took a liking to Scent of a Woman and Carlito's Way. I was determined to watch this movie eventually; and yes, it took me half a decade to get around to it. But I got there.
I watched this with Blu-ray as I felt I wanted the best possible picture quality, so I'll start there first. I never did see what the VHS or DVD or even big screen versions of this movie looked like for comparison, but I felt that this transfer was rather muddy. Scenes were quite dark and there was noise all throughout the movie. This wasn't the normal "age grain" that you might intentionally put in a movie; but to put it in perspective, Scarface was also filmed as an aged film was it was substantially cleaner. I also had issues with the audio; while it was Dolby True HD and my stereo readily picked it up, there was some blending challenges where the spoken audio was too low and the music and effects were too loud. The very first scene, where Vito is speaking to a visitor, caused me to crank the stereo quite a bit just to understand the guys talking, and then when the wedding music came in, I jumped at how loud it was. This was disappointing, to be sure.
As for the movie itself, well...I did a lot of reading and researching on the movie before purchasing it, and I found a very distinct split between people who watched it. Some people loved it to death, others simply couldn't stand it. The ones that didn't like it all had the same word to describe their experience: boring. They talked about how it was just "...a bunch of people talking at a wedding" and I found that a bit challenging to believe. So I watched for myself, and guess what? Those people REALLY have a short attention span, because while the whole wedding scene does dominate the first part of the movie, the rest of it is nothing but, and there's plenty of action to see. The problem is that the action is strategically placed to enhance the storyline and plot, rather than just action for the hell of it (aka Bourne Trilogy). When someone dies, it's for a reason, and the back story tells you about some of this and then uses the actual action to make it impact you. Here, it does a good job as long as you're patient. Sometimes, I think these action movies have people desensitized to a great story.
That doesn't mean it was all roses. Part of the issue I saw was with character development. With the exception of Vito, Mike, and to a lesser degree Tom, there was very little of it in this movie. People are introduced with little fanfare, some are killed off with very little emotion (which I suppose is the point). A character is killed in a car, presumably intentionally so, and presumably because he is at fault for a key scene in the movie involving Vito. But the character looks different from the Vito scene to when he's killed, and it happens so far later that you almost forget it was him. It's really the only time you connect the dots. In a later scene, a man is stuttering his way in front of Vito but you really don't know why or who this guy is, but it's revealed much later that he's basically an assassin who has done jobs for Vito in the past. He ends up killed, but reasoning behind the scene where he's killed is never explained (it's mentioned, but not confirmed and has no background to try and validate it). Mike, after the incident with Vito, is shipped off to Sicily to protect him from backlash, and he goes through a series of danger spots that, while appear to be closely true to the book with some variations, just don't make sense because they don't have any pre-staged plot development. There is a botched attempt on his life resulting in the death of another character; the person who tries to kill him is assigned as his bodyguard, but we don't ever learn why this person tried to kill him (yes, I know, it's revealed in a sequel). The person who really died is seemingly important to him, and they are just snuffed out with no emotion on Mike's part afterwards (yes, I know, it's revealed in a sequel).
Beyond the character development problems above, there are plot development gaps. For example, Vito steps down and Mike takes over, but this happens immediately after a peace meeting with all of the Dons where Vito is calling shots. There's no build up to this event at all, and really no logic since Mike is fresh back from Sicily and has no reason to take up this charge. Then Mike just starts offing people fresh off the heels of his dad calling for peace, including members of his dad's entourage who are apparently traitors (they don't reveal it until the very end). He intuits that one of these people, who is actually a family member by marriage, is aligned with Barzini somehow, even though there's simply no way he could have figured it out. He's just like "you think you can fool a Corleone?" Apparently, he did...since neither Vito nor Sonny ever connected the dots!
Another example of this plot development disconnect involves a run-in with local police. Guards (who are part of Corleone's entourage) are supposedly placed strategically to protect Vito from an attempt on his life. Mike shows up to visit but notices there are not only no guards, but no staff whatsoever except one person who seemingly has no clue about what's going on. There's no evidence of how much time has elapsed here, but he frantically calls for guards. Outside, police show up and assault him, with the chief claiming that he's well within authority to arrest all of them, until a Corleone lawyer arrives and states that they're all authorized to own handguns and act as guards for Corleone. The problem here: We assume the guards were armed. We also assume that this authorization was indicated by the guards. So why'd they get arrested? Why did they not fight? And why did the police leave (I'm trying not to spoil the scene) if their job was to ensure Vito's lack of safety? Shouldn't they have left a few cops in place to prevent any further protections?
So...while the first part of the movie is filled with a lot of talking and singing, laughing and getting married, the second half is filled with plot gaps, character development issues, and a very methodical pace. Even granting that, it came across to me as a very deep, detailed presentation of the back story that spawned a culture of "gangster". It was a solid movie and well presented for those that are patient and don't require instant gratification. It's long though - well over the standard. I believe I saw it was nearly 3 hours long? Yeah. So you may need to space these out if you plan to watch all three. I intend to watch part two next weekend, and I'll review it as well.
