The Godfather Part II is an epic crime film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a screenplay he co-wrote with Mario Puzo. The first film is a masterpiece but the increased budget is only positive in the sequel as everything is improved immensely and I'm talking about the production design and bigger scope, the superb writing and direction is still there. Why is this film like it's predecessor regarded as a classic and of course among of the best films in history? You can write a whole essay regarding that but there's a lot of things that makes it into the masterpiece it is, there's simply just so much attention to detail and the writing is some of the best I have ever seen. It's 3 hours and 22 minutes long, every scene matters, even the flashbacks as it ties everything up nicely at the end. If not for the excellent and award worthy editing, the two parallel narratives wouldn't really work but it works in such a brilliant way. It flows so well and you see how much the two writers (especially Mario Puzo) how they care about the story and its characters. Though they are hugely inspired by real people, you can just see how real these characters are as they are flawed and written as human as possible. Mario Puzo created a fascinating and truly mesmerizing story in his books, his and Francis Ford Coppola's work for the film trilogy is on the same level if not better. There's also some comedic scenes like the previous film, if not for the actors and their execution, it wouldn't be funny. Nino Rota returns to make the musical score and honestly, it's phenomenal like always, superb work that just hits you with its emotion. The Costume Design are top notch and so is the art direction, sets and locations. The cinematography is excellent and mesmerizing, visually this is an incredible film, much thanks to Gordon Willis. This film shows Francis Ford Coppola at his best, he created a masterpiece. It's considered to be one of the greatest films of all time. In 1997, the American Film Institute ranked it as the 32nd-greatest film in American film history. The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and became the first sequel to win for Best Picture. Its six Oscar wins also included Best Director for Coppola, Best Supporting Actor for Robert De Niro and Best Adapted Screenplay for Coppola and Puzo. Pacino won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He got robbed of the Oscar, his performance is brilliant in every way and tops even Robert De Niro's phenomenal performance, it might also be Pacino's best performance of his entire career. Robert De Niro won an Oscar for his performance and I'm behind that 100%, he lived in Sicily for three months and spent four months learning to speak the Sicilian language in order to play Vito Corleone, that's how he prepared for the role.

It is the second installment in The Godfather trilogy. Partially based on Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather, the film is both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather, presenting parallel dramas: one picks up the 1958 story of Michael Corleone, the new Don of the Corleone family, protecting the family business in the aftermath of an attempt on his life and as he attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba; the prequel covers the journey of his father, Vito Corleone, from his Sicilian childhood to the founding of his family enterprise in New York City. The Godfather Part II has many characters returning from the first film, they changed actors for the flashback/prequel story of the narrative, Robert De Niro takes over the role of Vito Corleone and I want to say that he does the character justice but it's almost impossible to stop thinking of the magnificent and perfect performance that Marlon Brando did as the older Vito. Some important characters are Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen, Diane Keaton as Kay Adams-Corleone, Robert De Niro as Vito Corleone, John Cazale as Fredo Corleone, Talia Shire as Connie Corleone, Lee Strasberg as Hyman Roth, Michael V. Gazzo as Frank Pentangeli, G. D. Spradlin as Senator Pat Geary, Richard Bright as Al Neri, Gastone Moschin as Fanucci and Tom Rosqui as Rocco Lampone. There's of course much more actors and fully fleshed out characters. Hyman Roth is a Jewish mobster, investor and a business partner of Vito Corleone, and later his son Michael Corleone. He is based on New York mobster Meyer Lansky. Frank Pentangeli is a caporegime in the Corleone family, running the family's operations in New York City while Michael Corleone, his brother and underboss, Fredo and the other two capos, Rocco Lampone and Al Neri are based in Nevada.

The character arc for Michael Corleone in the first two parts of The Godfather Trilogy is brilliant and just a milestone in terms of storytelling, but it comes full circle here and sees the true nature of Michael. I just think he's a brilliant character and even though he's such an ice cold person and evil person, I still sympathize with him because of who he once was and who he still is underneath it all. The Godfather Part III is a satisfying end to his arc and it wouldn't be as excellent if it wouldn't be for this movie.

Rewatching this film made me appreciate it even more and I can finally say that this is among the best films I've ever seen. Like Goodfellas, this trilogy is worth coming back to again and again, I just hope it doesn't take me years to rewatch it again. In terms of camera, lighting, cinematography, composition, production design, costume, storytelling, writing and acting. It's flawless and a master class in filmmaking. With all that said, I just have to admit this, I think the story was better in the first film and that's mostly because of how the entire film was based on the book, whilst Part II is partially based on that book (it's only Vito's backstory that's based on the novel, rest is original). On my first viewing, my thoughts were the opposite, I thought the story was better here but the first has a better story but I think this film has improved on everything.

The Godfather Part II is a masterpiece that I'll continue to study and to enjoy, almost 50 years and it's holding up better than some of the latest in the past two decades, I think letting Francis Ford Coppola get complete freedom with the follow-up to The Godfather was the right choice for the studio and for the trilogy. It wouldn't have been as good if that weren't the case, but we got an masterpiece and a classic out of it.