Holy shit they were right.

So, after watching Apocalypse Now Redux, I was a little scared going into The Godfather, as I thought it would be extremely tedious to sit through. Man was I wrong. I was met by an extremely entertaining film about family, about power, and about being the biggest badass in the room.

Don Vito Corleone is the coolest man in cinema, and he never lifts a finger. Marlon Brando is just as perfect as everybody says he is. You really know that he loves his family, and there are some great scenes of them all just hanging out and loving each other. Plus, Grandpa Vito was the cutest thing ever.

But of course, the main meat of the movie, is Al Pacino's Michael, and his rise to power. This is one of the most fascinating character arcs ever put to screen, and of course Pacino nails it. It's extremely engaging to see what his next decision would be. The rest of the cast is great too. Some standouts were James Caan as the hotheaded Sonny, and Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen. Every character is complex and interesting.

The story was complex, but it never got to where I couldn't follow it. I love how the violence is used sparingly, which makes the gory scenes that much more impactful. Plus, they're really effective, because you know the characters fairly well, and it's always shocking, and even sad sometimes.

So, yeah, it's amazing. You thought I was going to hate it? Well, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, because I wasn't so sure myself. In fact, I was kind of scared that I wasn't going to love it. But I did, and it's amazing. Please watch this truly epic, and engaging classic, if you haven't. It goes by surprisingly fast for a 3 hour runtime. 10/10