+++Warning, this contains spoilers from the movies. I assume most people reading this have already seen the movies, so if you have not and care about spoilers, you have been warned.++++
This is the latest and probably the last, restoration that The Godfather series of films is likely to ever get, given the age of the movie and the fact that physical media is being phased out. My guess is that anyone interested in getting the set has seen the movies multiple times, so this will have minor spoilers in it. Of course, this is the trilogy of three movies, two of which are definitely iconic and one that is pretty divisive, that tells of the rise and fall of the fictional Corleone crime family. There are a couple of different sets, one that just has the discs (which is the one I have) and one that comes with a commemorative book. The set I have has four folding cases that have the UHD discs (one for each movie) and one for the older versions of Part III and the bonus disc, which is a regular Blu-Ray disc and contains all of the special features.
The first disc is The Godfather Part I (set between 1945 and 1955), which starred Marlon Brando, James Caan, Robert Duval, Talia Shire, John Cazale, Diane Keaton, and Al Pachino. That movie basically tells the story of an aging Don (played by Brando) and the war between the "five families" (the various heads of the NY mafia) that is set off by Vito Corleone's refusal to expand his family into the drug trade. At the end of the ten-year period depicted in the movie, his son Michael (Pachino) who initially wants nothing to do with the family business has taken over and proven himself to be as or even more ruthless than his father.
The second disc contains The Godfather: Part II (set in 1958-1959) sees the Corleone family headquartered in Lake Tahoe, and set to take over pretty much all the casinos in Nevada (despite Michael's insistence in the first movie that the family would be completely legitimate in five years). The movie jumps back and forth between the story of Vito's rise to power (starring Robert De Niro taking the role of Vito in his early 30s) and a plot to take out Michael, similar to the plot to take out Brando's Vito in the first movie. The intertwining of the father-son storyline is done very well, and the end of the movie again displays Michael's ruthless nature as he wipes out all his enemies.
The third disc contains the recently reconfigured Part III, which is titled The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, which is set (mostly) in 1979, and details the final days of Michael as a gangster as he tries to finally get the family out of the life. He keeps getting pulled in however by another plot to take him out and his hot-headed nephew's (Vincent; Sonny's illegitimate son with the fugly bridesmaid in the original movie; played by Andy Garcia) desire for revenge. This version of the movie basically changes the beginning, so the plot involving the church and the real estate corporation is introduced first (which is an alternate scene in the original "Coppola restoration" that was released a handful of years ago on Blu-Ray, and then has an alternate version of Michael's letter to the kids (I think in large part so that the shot of the Twin Towers could be removed from the opening sequence) inviting them to the party. Then some of the scenes are extended a bit and the ending is changed so we do not see Michael's literal death, and it has a more metaphorical meaning. The movie still has the same story and has the same issues the original cut had, mostly the fact that a 19-year-old Sofia Coppola (who did not want to be in the movie in the first place) was cast after the actress that was likely to be offered the role was killed and Wynona Ryder backed out, to play a mid-twenties, Mary. And, even more than Sofia's acting (which was not great) was the horrible writing for her character that made a mid-twenties woman sound like a teenage girl pining after her first love.
The fourth disc (also a UHD disc) has both the theatrical version and the 1991 re-release version of Part III (which are nearly identical aside from a couple of scenes including the one in which Al and Connie give Vincent the go-ahead to take Zaza out. All of the versions of Part III really focus on Michael's guilt over the things he has done, especially having Fredo killed, and his attempt to seek redemption. Part III is definitely not as good as parts I or II, regardless of which version you watch. I do not think there was a huge need to see Michael's literal death in 1997 like we do in the theatrical and 1991 versions, but seeing him die alone to end the series is as the culmination of all his mistakes did make a powerful point. But, just knowing he ends up alone makes that point. None of the versions of Part III is as bad as those who shit on it make it seem, but I think anything they did with the story would have been hard-pressed to match the first two movies.
The fifth disc has all the special features. There are several features that specifically discuss the restoration process for the 4k-UHD discs. It is interesting to see the comparison between the various home video releases over the years and how the UHD quality blows even the last Blu-Ray restoration out of the water. The rest of the extras are the legacy features that were put together for the original DVD and Blu-Ray releases. So, there are hours of bonus material a lot of it very interesting, including the behind-the-scenes feature that was made about the time Part III was filmed in which Francis Coppola discusses the fight with Paramount's executives to get the first movie made. Apparently, the Paramount executives did not want Brando cast at all (presumably because Brando was a pretty notorious pain in the ass by that point) and wanted anyone but Pachino to play Michael. It was very interesting to hear how Coppola fought to make the movie he wanted to make and was followed by a "backup" director when making the first movie who was ready to step in if he was fired.
This is the latest and probably the last, restoration that The Godfather series of films is likely to ever get, given the age of the movie and the fact that physical media is being phased out. My guess is that anyone interested in getting the set has seen the movies multiple times, so this will have minor spoilers in it. Of course, this is the trilogy of three movies, two of which are definitely iconic and one that is pretty divisive, that tells of the rise and fall of the fictional Corleone crime family. There are a couple of different sets, one that just has the discs (which is the one I have) and one that comes with a commemorative book. The set I have has four folding cases that have the UHD discs (one for each movie) and one for the older versions of Part III and the bonus disc, which is a regular Blu-Ray disc and contains all of the special features.
The first disc is The Godfather Part I (set between 1945 and 1955), which starred Marlon Brando, James Caan, Robert Duval, Talia Shire, John Cazale, Diane Keaton, and Al Pachino. That movie basically tells the story of an aging Don (played by Brando) and the war between the "five families" (the various heads of the NY mafia) that is set off by Vito Corleone's refusal to expand his family into the drug trade. At the end of the ten-year period depicted in the movie, his son Michael (Pachino) who initially wants nothing to do with the family business has taken over and proven himself to be as or even more ruthless than his father.
The second disc contains The Godfather: Part II (set in 1958-1959) sees the Corleone family headquartered in Lake Tahoe, and set to take over pretty much all the casinos in Nevada (despite Michael's insistence in the first movie that the family would be completely legitimate in five years). The movie jumps back and forth between the story of Vito's rise to power (starring Robert De Niro taking the role of Vito in his early 30s) and a plot to take out Michael, similar to the plot to take out Brando's Vito in the first movie. The intertwining of the father-son storyline is done very well, and the end of the movie again displays Michael's ruthless nature as he wipes out all his enemies.
The third disc contains the recently reconfigured Part III, which is titled The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, which is set (mostly) in 1979, and details the final days of Michael as a gangster as he tries to finally get the family out of the life. He keeps getting pulled in however by another plot to take him out and his hot-headed nephew's (Vincent; Sonny's illegitimate son with the fugly bridesmaid in the original movie; played by Andy Garcia) desire for revenge. This version of the movie basically changes the beginning, so the plot involving the church and the real estate corporation is introduced first (which is an alternate scene in the original "Coppola restoration" that was released a handful of years ago on Blu-Ray, and then has an alternate version of Michael's letter to the kids (I think in large part so that the shot of the Twin Towers could be removed from the opening sequence) inviting them to the party. Then some of the scenes are extended a bit and the ending is changed so we do not see Michael's literal death, and it has a more metaphorical meaning. The movie still has the same story and has the same issues the original cut had, mostly the fact that a 19-year-old Sofia Coppola (who did not want to be in the movie in the first place) was cast after the actress that was likely to be offered the role was killed and Wynona Ryder backed out, to play a mid-twenties, Mary. And, even more than Sofia's acting (which was not great) was the horrible writing for her character that made a mid-twenties woman sound like a teenage girl pining after her first love.
The fourth disc (also a UHD disc) has both the theatrical version and the 1991 re-release version of Part III (which are nearly identical aside from a couple of scenes including the one in which Al and Connie give Vincent the go-ahead to take Zaza out. All of the versions of Part III really focus on Michael's guilt over the things he has done, especially having Fredo killed, and his attempt to seek redemption. Part III is definitely not as good as parts I or II, regardless of which version you watch. I do not think there was a huge need to see Michael's literal death in 1997 like we do in the theatrical and 1991 versions, but seeing him die alone to end the series is as the culmination of all his mistakes did make a powerful point. But, just knowing he ends up alone makes that point. None of the versions of Part III is as bad as those who shit on it make it seem, but I think anything they did with the story would have been hard-pressed to match the first two movies.
The fifth disc has all the special features. There are several features that specifically discuss the restoration process for the 4k-UHD discs. It is interesting to see the comparison between the various home video releases over the years and how the UHD quality blows even the last Blu-Ray restoration out of the water. The rest of the extras are the legacy features that were put together for the original DVD and Blu-Ray releases. So, there are hours of bonus material a lot of it very interesting, including the behind-the-scenes feature that was made about the time Part III was filmed in which Francis Coppola discusses the fight with Paramount's executives to get the first movie made. Apparently, the Paramount executives did not want Brando cast at all (presumably because Brando was a pretty notorious pain in the ass by that point) and wanted anyone but Pachino to play Michael. It was very interesting to hear how Coppola fought to make the movie he wanted to make and was followed by a "backup" director when making the first movie who was ready to step in if he was fired.
Really, the only thing that you do not get with this set is the commentary track on Part III that was included in the original DVD release (I cannot remember if that set also had commentary tracks on Parts I and II, but if so, those are not included either), or the cut of the movie in which Part I and Part II are put in chronological order. Some people think watching it that way is almost blasphemous. As one who has seen both chronological cuts on VHS years ago (there is one with just Parts I and II, and one with Parts I-III, and each has different scenes included in them) I think they are worth watching, but it tells a slightly different story. The chronological cut is more about the rise and fall of the family overall while watching the theatrical versions show the rise and fall of Michael as contrasted with the fall and rise of Vito.
At any rate, this set has nearly everything about the movies that you could possibly want. The A/V quality of the 4k restoration is wonderful. The colors pop more than ever and the contrasts with the black background in the really dark scenes look as good as it ever has on any home-video release. So, even if you have purchased the VHS, DVD, and/or Blu-Ray sets. this is worth the double, triple, or quadruple dip.
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