I never liked and never fancied sequels. I simply hate the whole concept of a continuation story - if it was the whole and complete body of work why would it need any additions? I always said, unless the sequel is bigger, better and brings something new and fresh it can be considered as such. There are not many thoroughly well done second parts, you can literally count them all down with fingers of one person's hands, and one of those is naturally "The Godfather Part II".

As with the first movie the second follows two people - Vito, from his youth years to his greatest successes, and Michael, continuing his story of self-exploration, vengeances, trials, tribulations and family matters. What I disliked though that there was way more time devoted to Michael instead of dividing their screen time with Vito equally because I felt that his story was more interesting and intriguing than that of Michael's. Vito was the man who built himself from scratch and surrounded himself with love and adoration from almost everybody who knew him well whereas Michael took over whatever was left from that adoration and love but perverted it and unknowingly for himself turned it into almost unanimous hate. The picture shows this contrast between the rise of Vito and personal demise of Michael very clearly with the help of its amazing cinematography.

Part II has won six Oscars, winning yet again the Best Picture, giving the much deserved statuette to Francis Ford Coppola for his remarkable direction and to Robert DeNiro for his phenomenal portrayal of Vito - he certainly based his version of him on Marlon Brando's but gave him his own vibe and touch which made this character so extraordinary. I would also like to point out Diane Keaton and John Cazale whose both characters have gotten more screen time in the sequel to fully blossom and shine and they did the job splendidly. Al Pacino was somewhat stale in his performance, and so was the whole story in general, in my opinion, but by the end of it his Michael has grown into a more vivid person than ever which makes "The Godfather Part II" so great as a standalone movie and a near perfection as a sequel.