Well, I agree that Coppola tries to imitate that subtlety of behavior which Puzo gave to Michael. And I believe it is really as good attempt as any attempt to imitate a masterpiece might be at all.
But don't you see some very important deficiency here?
I’m not sure I can word it intelligibly, but I’ll try. Perhaps, he plays Tom like a violin. But Michael never did such things without purpose, absolute necessity. And all his actions lack in sense. Why should he keep things from Tom? We were never told about things worth keeping in secret, it looked rather stupid, but that I wrote above. Why should he use his cunning telling him that he’s his brother after shooting? At that moment Tom would do anything he requested without being mollified. Why should he shout at him after? No purpose. Tom wouldn’t leave him, Michael knew his loyalty, and, not being stupid, would not risk it insulting and humiliating Tom without ultimate reason. As well as anyone. Puzo shows us Michael (in the Neri story etc) as very careful and tactful in his dealings with ANY people around him.
And the boathouse scene always left me confused. Michael was a man who did everything after long, careful examining, planning, taking all precautions. He wished everything to be foolproof and as safe for everyone involved, that he waited for years to find a proper moment. His plans were elaborate, he was controlling every minutiae. Such a man simply could not say that he wanted the next plane to be met and Roth killed by whatever price, and sacrifice such a good and loyal professional as Rocco for no purpose. Anyone would make a better plan regarding Roth, they could simply put a hitman on the roof of any building that Roth was to enter. If Michael would behave in such a way with his people, nobody would come to work for him. It was all not-Michael-like.
And by the way, I would like to see the person who proposed other job to Hagen. That was swell.
Anyway many maneuvers in GF2 are designed as cunning, but they are perfectly unnecessary in the simple and straight matter they are about.
And where he should use some subtlety of mind he suddenly begins to act bluntly unlike himself. All his scenes with Kay for example. Coppola misses the entirety of character, you maybe will not agree with me but I feel it strongly.