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"Box Set"
"Finest trilogy
ever"
"Overall, this is a handsome and valuable package that does justice to
these wonderful movies" |
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The Godfather Trilogy
by Francis Ford Coppola |
The Godfather is a Chilling
portrait of a Sicilian family's rise and near fall from power in America,
and the passage of rites from father to son. Based on the novel by Mario
Puzo. 'Part II' is the sequel which continues the saga of
two generations of power within the Corleone family. 'Part
III' is the third part of the epic story in which Michael searches for his
successor and a way of freeing his family from crime.
Review
Francis Ford Coppola will always be known as the man who
directed The Godfather trilogy, a series that has dominated and
defined their creator in a way perhaps no other director can understand. The
movies are an Italian-American Shakespearian cycle:
they tell a tale of a vicious mobster and his extended personal and
professional families, and
they present themselves with an epic sweep and a tragic tone.
The first film
is a towering achievement, brilliantly cast. The entry of Michael into the family business, the
transition of power from his father, the ruthless dispatch of his enemies
- all this is told with an assurance that is breathtaking to
behold. And it turned out to be merely prologue; two years later Part II balanced Michael's ever-greater acquisition of
power and influence during the fall of Cuba with the story of his father's
own youthful rise from immigrant slums. The stakes were higher, the
story's construction more elaborate and the isolated despair at the end
wholly earned. (Has there ever been a cinematic performance greater than
Al Pacino's Michael, so smart and ambitious, marching through the years
into what he knows is his own doom with eyes open and hungry?)
Part III
is a wholly worthy conclusion, autumnally patient and
almost merciless in the way it brings Michael's past sins crashing down
around him even as he tries to redeem himself.
On the 5-disc DVD: An exhaustive and enthusiastic commentary for all three
movies.
The fifth bonus disc is a real goldmine: a 70-minute
documentary covering all three productions.
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