I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve never been much of a fan of the Godfather Trilogy. I don’t know why, it is an amazing film on almost every level, but it never connected with me. Probably because by the time I finally saw it, I had heard all the signature lines over and over and over again, that it’s become a joke me. Also by the time I finally watched it, I had already seen Casino, Goodfellas, et all, so the movie felt like a cliche. And yes, I don’t want to get into the circular argument that Godfather came first and set the bar. Then there was the fact that Italian Gangsters are always glorified in films, while black criminals are, rightly, vilified. Always thought there was a double standard and didn’t like it. When Paramount finally put Godfather on DVD a few years ago, many people complained about the quality of the transfer. It always looked ok to me. Now we have the long awaited Coppola Restoration on Blu-ray.
The beginning of The Godfather looks pristine. The colors are once again vibrant and beautiful. The Dolby TrueHD audio is crisp – even on my Sony Soundbar. It gives the movie a whole new feel to it. The problem is, this quality isn’t consistent, when it works it’s brilliant, but the night scenes are where the problem lies. The scenes that are grainy, washed out and fuzzy. Especially around the faces. It looks like everyone has a 3’oclock fuzzy shadow. One of the most famous scenes from the first Godfather Film – the restaurant shootout, there are a lot of dark, grainy shadows around the face. It makes it really hard to watch. The other issue I found, especially when watching Godfather III is that the blacks are now so richly detailed and, um, black that it’s a really dark film and the dark burgundy rooms don’t help. I can barely see anything.
I switched between the Dolby to the Coppola commentary track. It’s interesting hearing his comments about the film, but his delivery is really dry. He’s intensely proud of his family and his ability to force them on us. He points them out almost every time they appear in a scene. It’s also why Godfather III is such a horrible and barely watchable film. Sophia Coppola is awful. She has the anti- "It" factor. Story wise, Godfather III is a beautiful coda – except for the Vatican stuff, to the Saga. But the casting, cinematography and acting was so over the top bad. Then there is the whole cousins in Love thing that is just sick. Coppola said this relationship makes him want to cry, it makes me want to barf. When I was younger, I liked Godfather III, but I think this HD Restoration enhances the negatives of this film.
All of the extra features are on a stand alone disk and include over 3 hours of stuff. All of the features from the previous release plus several
additional ones. The menu is designed really nice. All of the old DVD features are grouped under the 2001 menu. In here there are 9 Behind the Scenes featurettes, Galleries, Cast and Crew Bios and a boatload of deleted scenes. The new stuff is all in HD and look amazing. There’s a 30 minute documentary on how the Godfather almost didn’t get made called "The Masterpiece that almost wasn’t."
- The Godfather World
11 Minute feature with celebrities discussing the impact of the films - Emulsional Rescue – Revealing the Godfather
19 Minutes about the Cinematographer, Gordon Lewis and the process of Restoring the film - When the shooting stops – 14 minutes on the post production process
- The Godfather on the Red Carpet – 4 minutes of pointlessness
- Four short films on the Godfather – Not sure the point of these 4, 2 minute shorts, it’s more interview footage. People really can talk incessantly about this movie.
- There’s a Family Tree but it’s weirdly laid out and hard to figure out the connections. Instead of going from top to bottom, this one goes from bottom to the top. It’s very strange looking.
Overall, this Blu-ray release is a mixed bag. You are getting two classic/masterpiece films, and one so-so one in perhaps the best format possible. But the blacks in this are almost too black. The extra features are plentiful and the new ones for the Blu-ray release are excellent and packed with lots of information all in HD. I’m on the fence here. If you don’t already own The Godfather Trilogy, this is probably the definitive edition to get. If you already own the previous DVDs, I don’t think it’s worth the upgrade.
Genre – Drama
Movie Grade – B+ (this factors in pt. III)
Audio – A
Picture – C
Features – A
Final Overall Grade – B
EM Review by
Michelle Alexandria
Originally Posted 10.27.08