STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

This companion piece to the original Godfather film charts the rise of a young Don Vito (Robert De Niro) as well as the ascension of Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) in the 1950s.

Whereas the original just told a straight-out story, this one juxtaposes (brilliantly) two extraordinary tales of the mafia together, from Vito's struggle to over-come an arsehole Don to cement his own position of influence in his Italian-American neighbourhood he occupies to Michael's ascension to power, the personal sacrifices power requires and his testimony before a grand jury of unlawful conduct.People often mention how it was a shock that De Niro and Pacino would have to wait many years before they worked directly together again in Heat, but it's like they're controlling two completely separate movies here (it certainly makes the time fly by quicker if you think of it that way.) Nino Rota's powerful score flies over as absorbingly as it did in the original.

Overall,this is even more an accomplished piece of film-making than the original and a must-see if you want to see the ultimate conclusion to that.*****