Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.5

The Godfather 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 16, 2022

Paramount has released Director Francis Ford Coppola's legendary masterpiece 'The Godfather' to the UHD format. New specifications include 2160p/Dolby Vision video and a restored mono soundtrack. At time of writing, this presentation is exclusive to one of two UHD boxed sets that also include The Godfather, Part II, The Godfather, Part III (interestingly included as one of the two bonus discs), and The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. These sets include the standard and deluxe presentations.

Don Vito Corleone, "The Godfather" (Marlon Brando), patriarch of the Corleone family, oversees a powerful criminal organization that thrives in no small part with the cooperation of corrupt policemen and politicians. The family's influence reaches far and wide, from local dealings on the East Coast to Hollywood, employing dialogue, threats, and brute force to get their way. Don Vito's refusal to enter into the drug business, against the better judgement of his son Santoni (James Caan) and "consigliere" (counselor) Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) sets off a series of events that will be the death of several in the Corleone family, ignite a war with rival families, and see Don Vito's son Michael (Al Pacino) rise, at first reluctantly, to power in the Corleone family. The Godfather is a cinematic opera that comments on the bond of family, friendship, loyalty, trust, anger, and revenge. It is a film written, acted, and directed to sheer perfection from the first frame to the chilling last.

For a full film review, please click here.

The Godfather 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from the legacy Blu-ray discs. The film has been released on remastered Blu-ray; please click here for screenshots (available once those reviews go live post-street).

The three Godfather films look beyond amazing and mere words can do little to express the level of work, care, and love that went into bringing this film, and its sequels, to the UHD format. For this release American Zoetrope and Paramount "undertook a painstaking restoration of all three films over the course of three years." This releases uses the original 2007 Robert Harris restoration as a "blueprint" for this presentation. This new work is the result of "thousands of hours" of careful, scrutinizing work that has today resulted in this glorious UHD which is "the most pristine presentation" of the film that also "remain[s] true to the original look." In short: it's the best of both worlds, offering a classic film-like look that has not been "boosted" per se but rather returned to full, original glory for home viewing in a presentation that is certainly befitting of one of cinema's most valued treasures.

Paramount outlines the arduous work that was involved in the new restoration process, which was overseen by Coppola himself:

• Over 300 cartons of film were scrutinized to find the best possible resolution for every frame of all three films.
• Over 4,000 hours were spent repairing film stains, tears, and other anomalies in the negatives.
• Over 1,000 hours were spent on rigorous color correction to ensure the high dynamic range tools were respectful of the original vision of Coppola and cinematographer Gordon Willis.

The end product that fans will see on their televisions and projector screens is beautiful. While it's not explicitly tack-sharp, it's filmic and pure as well as honest to the original source. Grain is fine and faithful, lending to the picture a handsome facade that holds up to even intense scrutiny. Spikes are limited to a few scenes in which the film stock is pushed a little harder, such as inside a hospital corridor at the 1:06:00 mark. Facial textures are generally well defined; there are some softer shots that appear inherent to the source, but close-ups offer no challenge for this picture, revealing every fine wrinkle and pore with ease. Location details are wonderful, too, showing great yields to textural boost compared to the 2007 Blu-ray. Fine woods and other ornate appointments present with wonderful clarity, pushing beyond 1080p limits and capturing natural, filmic definition both in well-lit interiors and low light shadowy locales alike.

The Dolby Vision color grading is the perfect compliment to the newer higher resolution textures. The grading brings newfound depth and accuracy to the warm woods seen throughout the estate. Clothing is full and rich. Outdoors, like the wedding sequence to open the picture, are bright and stable, with only the slightest hint of looking washed out. Do blacks teeter on crush? They do, but that is the way Gordon Willis wanted them. The shot outside the hospital in the 67-minue mark approaches the heaviest crush seen in the film but generally blacks are very deep and stable, offering true black depth and fine shadow detail that accentuates the beautiful cinematography and the vital contrasts that are in play throughout the film. At that same hospital scene, some colorful exterior lights dot the landscape, featuring more suitable balance and brilliance than found in previous releases. Whites are gorgeous. There are some exemplary shots and elements that boast true, pure white balance. Skin tones are very good, though with some push that corresponds to particular lighting environments. The net result is a color spectrum that is more foundationally lifelike in balance, contrast, and temperature. Gordon Willis' cinematography is greatly enhanced in the improvements to stability and accuracy; the film has never looed better. Add in that the image is free of both source and encode flaws and this is The Godfather at its best.

The Godfather 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For this release, Paramount has included both the legacy Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack (please click here for a full review) and a newly remastered two channel mono track. This new track is presented in the Dolby Digital 2.0 configuration. It lacks the sense of fullness that the 5.1 track offers, but it is well balanced and suitably clear. Music is nicely detailed with positive front side spread. Most of the action pushes to a center imaged area. Gunfire is decently robust. Dialogue is presented with fine natural clarity and, again, within a center imaged location.

The Godfather 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Most of the extras are found on bonus discs (please click here for a breakdown of what's included). As it ships with the boxed set, a digital copy code is included with purchase.

• Introduction (2160p/Dolby Vision, 2:54): Coppola reflects on the film's age, legacy, collaboration with Mario Puzzo, the cast, the crew who made the film what it is today, and talks up the new version of The Godfather, Part III.
• Audio Commentary: Director Francis Ford Coppola.

The Godfather 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In short, Paramount has released The Godfather to the UHD format with a masterwork 2160p/Dolby Vision UHD presentation. The picture is stunning, and while no new multichannel track is included, the remastered mono track, albeit in lossy Dolby Digital, is a treat. A new Coppola introduction is included, and plenty of new and returning bonuses can be found on the support discs. This release, as part of the larger boxed set, earns my highest recommendation.