The Godfather: Part II 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		0.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.5

The Godfather: Part II 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 16, 2022

Paramount has released Director Francis Ford Coppola's legendary masterpiece 'The Godfather, Part II' 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, 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.

Telling two tales of the Corleone family, one featuring Michael's dealings as patriarch and the other showcasing Vito Corleone's (Robert De Niro) rise to power in New York as a young adult, The Godfather: Part II intertwines both stories, but Michael's is the primary tale, while Vito's is the more engaging. Michael's tale begins in a similar fashion to The Godfather, with him receiving guests in his office during a celebration of his son's first communion. Among those he meets are three of the most crucial characters in the film, including Johnny Ola (Dominic Chianese), an associate of the Miami-based Hyman Roth (Lee Starsberg), who is seeking a business opportunity with the Corleone family in revolution-torn Havana, Cuba; Frank Pentangeli (Michael V. Gazzo), a newly-minted "cappo" in the Corleone family who is seeking help in eliminating the Rosato Brothers, associates of Roth's; and Pat Geary (G.D. Spradlin), a corrupt U.S. Senator who despises Michael and the Italian mafia, and is trying to shake him down for a cut of the family's Las Vegas profits. Soon after, an attempt on Michael's life leads him to believe a mole exists inside his own inner-circle, and as he conducts business with Roth, he fleshes out the mole and exacts revenge on anyone who gets in his way. Meanwhile, told in flashbacks, Vito's story covers much of his youth and early adult life: beginning with childhood in Sicily, where he witnesses the murder of his family at the hands of Don Francesco (Giuseppe Sillato); his arrival to Ellis Island, New York, as a young boy with smallpox; his dealings with a corrupt, unforgiving neighborhood boss, Don Fanucci (Gaston Moschin); and his rise to prominence in the city as a man known for getting things done.

For a full film review, please click here.

The Godfather: Part II 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 the others in the series, 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 presentation 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.

From the opening shot depicting Michael Corleone as The Godfather, the picture offers a resounding message to audiences: The Godfather, Part II on the UHD format is going to be a treat. The warm, low-light shot reveals both perfectly defined skin tones within the ambient lighting conditions and picture-perfect skin detail and definition. After the Ellis Island open, the film moves to another large outdoor sequence, broken up by scenes inside Michael's office. Though the latter is not quite so shadowy and warm as it was in the original film, the stark contrast between warm low light interior and sun-drenched exterior offer a good contrast to how the image works at both extremes. In both locations grain is well managed and natural; it doesn't appear pushed too hard inside and it is very fine outside. Textural delights are apparent in both locations, too, offering striking clothing density, picture-perfect facial feature definition, and wonderful detailing to various support elements. These qualities stand far above the remastered Blu-ray, rendering what was years ago reference material at 1080p more or less obsolete. This is the picture at its peak.

The Dolby Vision color grading offers a newfound level of integrity, balance, fullness, and realism to the proceedings. At the two extreme ends, whites are presented with incredible vibrancy and intensity. The increase in purity is evident from the opening title card and extends to white shirts and other accents which stand out for their natural proclivities. Opposite are the blacks which, as in the first film, can occasionally teeter on crush but hold very deep and dark, never appearing too light and, in the vast number if instances, revealing picture-perfect shadow detail. Everything in between is boosted for tonal nuance and clarity. Bright lights are more even and balanced. Clothes appear with wonderful stability and accuracy. Green grasses leap off the screen with beautifully firm accuracy. Warm wooden interiors offer a comforting elegance. Skin tones are spot-on perfect within any ambient lighting condition. With no encode issues and nary a source blemish to be found, this is The Godfather, Part II at the zenith of current capabilities.

The Godfather: Part II 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, presented in the Dolby Digital 2.0 configuration, is similar to that included with the UHD release of The Godfather. While it is obviously absent the fullness and greater immersive definition that the 5.1 track offers, the 2.0 mono track offers a good, basic listen. Musical clarity and definition satisfy, and spacing is never an issue. Most of the action-type content pushes to the middle but some gunplay and other elements do find some extension along the front. Dialogue is clear and holds to a nicely imaged front-center position.

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

Only one supplement, a Francis Ford Coppola commentary track, is included on this disc proper (please click here for a full review). The larger boxed set contains more content. (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.

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

As with The Godfather, this is a faultless presentation. The picture quality is simply outstanding. No new multichannel audio mix is included, but purists will enjoy the restored mono presentation, here in the lossy Dolby Digital encode. This release, as part of the larger boxed set, earns my highest recommendation.