The Godfather introduces us to the illustrious "Godfather", Don Vito Corleone, powerful and respected patriarch of the Corleone family. He rules the community with an iron hand and is both feared and loved by many. The original film stars the likes of Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton and Talia Shire, just to name a few. Although the film establishes the Corleone family as an American film icon, the entire movie seems to be the evolving of Michael Corleone (Pacino), young son of Don Vito, from squeaky clean war-hero to the cold-hearted ruler of the Corleone family.
The Godfather Part II furthers Michael Corleone's story as the ruler of the family business, but also flip-flops between this time period and the childhood and subsequent rise to power of Don Vito Corleone. I found Part II to be far more engaging and action-packed as we are able to see just what shaped Vito Corleone into the ruthless ruler of the Corleone clan. Young Vito Corleone is convincingly played by Robert DeNiro and is once again joined by most of the myriad of stars from the original.
The Godfather Part III, although not nearly as good as the first two movies, does reunite a number of the stars, albeit some years later, so it is interesting to see the time progression. As trilogies often go, this movie felt more tacked on simply to conclude the saga, which is precisely what it does. Andy Garcia, Sofia Coppola, Joe Mantegna and Eli Wallach round out the cast.
There's plenty of great acting to be had across these films, although you really need to be in the mood to have a Godfather marathon as each one of these babies clocks in at over 2 hours. However, for the Godfather fan, this collection is a must-have.
Included in this release of The Godfather DVD Collection is a bonus preview disc of EA's The Godfather The Game which inlcudes a lengthy preview of the types of gameplay experiences you can expect, as well as character creation and development and the intertwining of the epic films with the gameplay itself. There are also two "Making-Of" Developer Diaries included that explain how they created the world of The Godfather for the game, along with the various special effects. Also, they threw in the exclusive E3 2005 The Godfather The Game CG video, so if you missed last year's show, now is your chance to check it out.
From what I've seen on this preview disc, numerous memorable scenes from the classic film have been lovingly recreated for EA's upcoming game, so fans of The Godfather will have much to look forward to.
