Just re-watched the Godfather trilogy.
Godfather I: Simply epic. There's a few holes in the plot that any movie how brilliant it would be will have. The awe of Brando's aura is simply indescribable in words. Al Pacino also flawlessly portrayed his character. The two towering legends in Hollywood in my opinion in one movie. Just simply epic. I'm actually rehashing what others would have said before me but it needed to be said AGAIN.
That being said, the plot holes:
1) Sollozzo: How come a low-level drug dealer who comes asking for money and protection can almost assassinate the most powerful criminal figure in the country, a man who supposedly owns half the politicians, police, and judges in New York? Then Sollozzo can go further and kill off Luca Brasi (which is another big plot hole, it would have been incredibly obvious to the Tattaglias and Sollozzo that he was fake. Brasi served the Corleones loyally for years if not decades, then suddenly comes whining about them right after Sollozzo got rejected? When he had the Barzinis and the Straccis and the Cuneos to turn to?), kidnap Tom Hagen (who apparently despite being one of the top leaders of the biggest crime family in the US has not a single bodyguard) and wage war. If he had so much power and money he wouldn't have gone to the Corleones in the first place and he owns a ****ing police captain for cripe's sake. He could have gone to any other of the 3 crime families and have gotten what he wanted. Also if he had so little he wouldn't have dared wage war on the Corleones without being out of his mind. I know I'm bitching about it and that it's simply a movie but there are so many holes and it's just about Sollozzo.
2) Sonny's death: Sonny's death is somewhat plausible. Hell if I knew my sister was beaten the crap out for the second time, I would have gone racing to kill the bastard who did it, wartime or not. Yet how the Don's reaction was full of holes. A war against the four families would have taken its toll. He could have ended it, then and now, but he had to wait until Sonny got killed. The war was costing the Corleones huge amounts of money but he had to wait until one of his sons got killed. Rizzi's hand in Sonny's death was also so obvious, I watched the later half of the Godfather when I was watching it for the first time thinking that he would have been killed automatically. I only knew that he was still alive when Michael was meeting about moving to Las Vegas. I mean, Rizzi beat up Connie and Sonny conveniently gets killed with perfect timing while racing away to kill Rizzi?
3) The Baptism murders: So the Corleones which was such on a steep decline that one of its closest friends who got entrusted with even one of the Corleones snubbed them could somehow kill off the heads of the other four families with the guy who snubbed the Corleones for good measure. If killing off five of the most important criminal figures in the US could be so easy, why didn't somebody else do it long time ago? Sure the Corleones took time to prepare but if a novice Don could pull it off, anybody else could do it. Those who were killed also had virtually no bodyguards and no checking of the locations before-hand. Only Barzini did and he had just one. ONE. That's the guy who planned the downfall of the Corleones and was supposedly smartest of the bunch, and he had the genius to have only one bodyguard. Stracci, Moe Greene (who also invented Las Vegas but couldn't get a bodyguard), and Cuneo all had no bodyguards. Well Cuneo could have had his in the elevator with him but he didn't send anybody else up before to check if the coast was safe. Standard bodyguard procedure anybody?
BTW Cracked poked holes in the Godfather for all the wrong reasons. Their problems were that how could Tom Hagen creep to the stalls, cut off a horse's head, sneak into a studio head's bedroom and put the head all without being detected. Well obviously he had some henchmen with him who would have plenty of street experience. A consigliere would never go anywhere alone and he probably knew that he would be rejected so he had to bring some muscle. It's even mentioned somewhere that Luca Brasi did it. Then it has the complaint about Sonny's death, about how the assassins had to wait hours in a sweltering toll booth just to kill him. Well obviously Connie called her mother right away after the beating who also told Sonny right away. They didn't have to wait hours, they could anticipate when Sonny would come within ten minutes. If they could block Sonny's car with perfect timing, they could pull that off.
That being said, don't get me wrong. The Godfather I is still one of my favorite movies of all time. It's damn near perfect-the baptism scene, the opening (Bonasera), the acting, even the soundtrack. It's just that I'm the type of person who can't help but poke holes at the plot. Rating? 9.9/10.
Godfather II: The parallel storyline is also perfect. While I personally found the Godfather I to still be the best, I could see why people view the sequel as one that exceeds the original. The acting, everything was great. The transition from Marine to ruthless Godfather was also great (though by the end of Godfather I, Michael wasn't so naive was he?). There were also little plot holes except some minor ones such as why the Rosato brothers wouldn't simply just shoot Pentageli instead of going to the trouble of garroting him. That being said it was as great as the first. 9.9/10
Godfather III: I couldn't see the hate people have for it. Admittedly it wasn't as great as the first two but it was still damn near perfect. Michael from ruthless Don to an old man full of remorse for what he did and trying to redeem himself was great. The only problems I had was that the plot was too much redundant. The Godfather I and the Godfather II was essentially that the family was running smoothly until some external threat came to briefly threaten it then get killed off. Vincent also portrayed a new type of gangster, one that wasn't as polished enough, wasn't as thoughtful and careful, and had little respect though he could have done it more effectively. Mary and Anthony were useless except for Mary getting killed off. Some plot holes like in Godfather I, how the Corleones could essentially kill multiple important people seemingly without flaw, and why Michael would choose to go for Immobiliare while there were other lucrative businesses. Not as great as the first two, but I still thought it was better than the majority of crap that Hollywood churns out. 8.5/10.
