The Godfather: Part II

So, after being a HUGE fan of the the first Godfather movie I just finally got round to watching Part II for the first time & I hate to say it, but after all of the "The Godfather Part II is one of the, if not the best movie/s of all time. And if not, it is without a doubt the best sequel of all time." I was pretty let down. Now, like I said, I really do LOVE the first movie; it's one of my all-time favorite movies but The Godfather Part II imo, after watching this one time, is no-where near the top of that "Favorite Moives" list. 

Now I understand that there's a full 3h 22m version, but I was just watching the 3h 2m version, so I I must've missed out on about 20 minutes worth of stuff. But I really don't think that would've helped, much. I just, I felt confused ALOt throughout the film. I, personally, for much of the film, didn't understand what was going on OR why it happened. It seemed, at times, as though Michael Corleone was almost [& I hate to say this, but] psychic because it seemed as though he knew everything that was going on but I didn't understand how he found out what was going on. Maybe I missed it all in the speech, infact after reading some of the plot summary on Wiki I probably did miss a bunch of stuff (eg Tom Hagen apparantly told Frank Pentangeli to commit suicide, which he did & was found in the bathtub with his wrists slit - but I don't recall hearing anything like that). Though, the confusion was really only with the stuff that was set in "the present" (ie 1958-1959); I pretty much fully understand what was going on in the "prequel" part of the film in which you see Don Vito's life chronicle from a young, small boy to moving to New York, to starting a family, to start his own Mafia family, to killing the Don, to going back to Corleone, Sicily to kill the Don that ordered his (Don Vito's) mom to be shot dead, & everything that happened. 

In actual fact, I think I would've much preferred the whole movie to be about Don Vito's life, instead of just flashbacks as apart of a sequel to the first Godfather movie. I actually found it quite interesting watching Don Vito's life & how he worked his way up to where he got. But for the actual, main storyline of the movie I just felt it was all so random & just didn't make munch sense. I understand that Michael wanted revenge after his bedroom window being shot through, in an attempt to kill Michael &/or Kay. And I do understand some of the other things that happened (eg Kay breaking up/leaving), but for the large majority of the main storyline I was just confused.

I would like to make a commment of my opinions on the acting, or the directing, or whatever but I feel that with my confusion of the film I don't really think I could make a fail & proper judgement. I mean, for all it's worth, the directing was as good as ever, & the acting seemed to be pretty good, I guess, but yeah.... I was just really confused. Maybe it's because of the missing 20 minutes; Maybe it's because some of the speech just went straight over my head; I don't knoq. But nontheless I was pretty disappointed with this film after the very high expectations I had for it. 

Maybe in time I may understand the film better, like if I watch it again, or by playing the game (though I realize that "The Godfather II" doesn't follow the movie 'The Godfather Part II' as close as the first game did to the first movie), because I've seen the first movie too many times to count & I understand it completely & I love it, but I can't remember what I first thought of it after watching it however-many years ago it was I first saw that movie (Infact, it wasn't even that long ago, I think it was maybe 3 or 4 years ago) - & I played the game to DEATH, literally over 60 hours if not WAY more. 

So yeah, maybe in time it'll grow on me, but after just watching it for the first time I was pretty darn disappointed.