Before I get to the meat of this review, I'd like to reflect for a moment on what a great time this is for movies, and more specifically, for people who love movies. Now, some may argue that Hollywood hasn't produced a truly decent film in years, and there may well be something to that, but that doesn't matter. We have DVD.

DVD has finally reached such a level of importance in the industry that studios are finally working on bringing important films to the format. This year, and this season in particular, has seen some of the best Hollywood has to offer arrive remastered on DVD to look and sound better than ever. One of the most recent set of films to get the treatment is the Godfather trilogy.

So influential are the Godfather films that in movie making terminology, "The Godfather" is synonymous with "epic storytelling." If you have never seen the films, I can guarantee that they will still seem familiar to you if only because most of the scenes are infamous in film lore (for instance, who isn't aware of the fate of the movie exec's beloved racehorse?). Beyond that, the films that freely borrow or blatantly rip off from The Godfather are simply too numerous to list. We're talking about the film that made "I'll make him an offer he can't refuse" a household phrase.

The Godfather begins the tale of the Corleone family. The film opens in 1945 with Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) in charge of the family and taking requests on the day of his daughter's wedding. It is said that he can refuse no requests on this day and people are coming out of the woodwork to ask favors.

Meanwhile, Don Corleone's youngest son, Michael (Al Pacino) has just returned as a war hero from service in the Marines. He's explaining his family to his girlfriend, Kay (Diane Keaton), and that he wants nothing to do with that life.

Michael's outlook changes drastically when Don Corleone is shot by a rival family. As the Godfather barely clings to life in a hospital bed, Michael visits and thwarts another assassination attempt. He vows vengeance and declares that he personally will be the trigger man. With cold determination, Michael murders the head of the opposing family and a police chief who cleared the way for a second attempt at Don Corleone's life. For his protection, Michael is sent to Sicily and placed into hiding, where he meets a beautiful local girl. Forgetting about Kay back home, who is left wondering what happened to her boyfriend, Michael marries the Sicilian woman.

Back in New York, the Corleone's are engaged in an increasingly violent war between families. Eventually, a rival family member discovers Michael's location and sends a hitman in the form of Michael's supposedly trusted bodyguard. The attempt on Michael's life fails, but the damage the hitman does inspires Michael to return to New York, again with vengeance on his mind.

The underlying story of The Godfather is the transfer of power from Don Vito Corleone to Michael. Much has been said about Marlon Brando's performance as the Godfather and it is great, but this is really Al Pacino's show. His performance is critical because he is the one who brings us into the story. Michael starts out young, naive and idealistic. Like the audience, he may be aware of what the family does, but he isn't a part of it. As the family pulls him in, we are allowed to go along for the ride. Without Michael, or more to the point, without Pacino's performance of Michael, we would have remained outsiders throughout the film and its emotional impact would have been severely diminished.