Wednesday 15 January 2014

The Godfather 40th Anniversary Collection Review

The Godfather in my opinion is one of the best movie series off all time, coming just behind the original Star Wars trilogy. So when I received this 40th Anniversary Collection as part of my Christmas I was extremely happy.

Now I won't talk too much about the films, as many people will have probably already seen them. I will however sum up my thoughts on the three films in the next paragraph, spending the rest of the review talking about the restoration, extras and off course the additional items. 

Now many people will order the quality of the films in different orders, but for me it has to be the order they were released. Now there isn't too much between the first two films with both being exceptionally good films. I personally however slightly prefer the first has it had a much better tone and story to it, whereas the second was showing more of Michael's downward spiral as well as some of Vito Corleone's background. The third one however is probably in most peoples opinion the worst. I personally don't mind the film, as there are some good points about it, but overall it is nowhere near as good as the first two.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way I'l move onto the restoration of the film, which is what either makes or breaks older films transfer onto Blu-ray. Firstly the discs themselves are the exact same as from the 2008 release with the original Blu-ray box set simply being inserted into the bigger box. This is in no way a problem, and very practical, and actually makes it easier to store as you don't have to take the big box with you if you just want to watch the films. Anyway back to the quality. Over the three films the restoration was very impressive as despite there still being the sign of grain, it was much better than the DVD release, being much sharper overall. It also felt a justifiable transfer as after seeing the Blu-ray transfer of the likes of Rocky I get very sceptical over getting older films on Blu-ray, even though the likes of Ben-Hur and Ten Commandments are vastly improved.

The Blu-ray extras were all collected on one disc, which features some new extras as well as the archived extras from the DVD release. I personally was pleasantly surprised that the box set had some new extras in it, as I was half expecting it to just be the extras from the DVD set. The new extras themselves were also extremely interesting, giving more insight into how the Godfather was almost never made and how it has affected so many other forms of media. I also loved that the DVD extras were added as well, and especially that it was in a separate menu.

I finally come to what makes this box set different from the normal Blu-ray set, and that'
s all the extra memorabilia. Now the box itself is wonderful, having a brilliant look to it. There was also some still pictures from the movies as well as a poster featuring the Corleone family tree. It was however the final shooting script that I enjoyed the most. The book which is 428 pages long is simply amazing having all the penned notes added on the side. I also loved the binding of the book and along with the poster and pictures it made this set well worth getting.

Overall this set is perfect for any Godfather fan, as even though the Blu-rays are the exact same as the 2008 release, the marvellous extras make it truly worth owning. I would however advise anyone who already owns the Blu-rays to think before buying though, as the price that some sites and retailers are charging isn't worth the extras alone. On the other hand there are bits like Amazon which currently has a very good price for the set.


Godfather Rating: 10/10
Godfather Part II Rating: 10/10
Godfather Part III Rating: 7/10
Restoration Rating: 9/10
Extra Memorabilia Rating: 10/10

Overall Rating: 9/10

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