For years, I'd resisted the idea that The Godfather: Part II is equal to the first, or at least disagreed with the notion. I've always liked it a lot, but I remember seeing these films for the first time when I was about 15 (almost half a lifetime ago now!) and loving Part I while liking Part II (as for Part III? I've only seen it once, and there are elements I like. But I really do feel like the story concludes more perfectly by the end of Part II).

But seeing The Godfather: Part II on the big screen, in a cinema, and for what might have been the fifth or sixth time in my life... I think it finally clicked. I'd still say the first is my favorite, but it's not far ahead of Part II. I might've heard that the flashback scenes were supposed to contrast with the present-day scenes when I was younger, but for some reason, I never felt it on a gut level. Here, it now seems plain to me that that's entirely why Part II ends up being more emotionally intense and even more operatic/tragic.

Al Pacino's Michael starts the film colder than he was in the first, and in every scene, he seems to lose a new piece of his soul. By the end, he's terrifying; his eyes and his face - there's no longer the soul of a person inhabiting the body of Michael Corleone, and it's haunting. He doesn't even have to have the odd outburst in this film to convey his emotional and moral downfall (but when he does yell, it's likely to cause more of a jolt than 99% of jump scares out there).

I also respect De Niro's performance here more than I used to. I like how he doesn't try to impersonate Brando when he's speaking Italian, but then when he says the odd thing in English, it really does sound like Brando, as if Brando had that odd accent because that's how he picked up English. All his flashbacks in isolation are oddly heartwarming, sometimes fun/funny, and kind of cool... but then you play all that stuff with him building his family and his empire in between the scenes of Michael destroying his family and losing friends, and it's just soul-crushing stuff; genuinely Shakespearean, and also potentially likely to be viewed and studied 400 years from now.

One thing I've never liked about Part II, though? That stupid cake scene. I HATE the cake scene. Everything else across this 3+ hour film falls between great and perfect. But I hate the cake scene.