Review of The Godfather Part III (1990) by Dave M — 23 Jun 2012

It truly is a shame that, amongst the entire collection of stories that compose the "Godfather" universe, the third installment wastes the most intriguing of them all. There is no evidence to claim that the third "Godfather" isn't good; the problem is that it forms part of a series of greats, and not just goods.

The finale of Michael Corleone's catastrophes is an elegant, interesting killing act that displays with a powerful and complex political plot involving the Catholic church itself, while its weakness rest entirely on the unbearably mediocre love circle by the two unberably mediocre new young actors; and what ultimately distances this from the original is the unexplained incapacity to attach to the twists that marked the reminisence and majesty of the first installments, and instead die in a confused, almost wrong story development.

The ending scene of the film though (Michael's final tragedy and death) is as elegant and beautiful as any other great moment in the series. When it comes to the highlights, I can say that the premise of the Vatican is fantastic, and my only wishes are that Coppola and Puzo had just attached to its solemnity and not developped the absolutely irrelevant relationship between Mary and Vincent.

PS: I have a specific inquiry regarding the casting of the film... I understand that Andy Garcia was apparently famous at the time (which I cannot explain to myself, for he is not an actor half as great as Pacino was), but why is Sofia Coppola too? She has actually played two roles in the series, because she was Michael's nephew in the first film when she was a baby. So? I can see not talent or professionalism in the girl. She's just there overacting when hundreds of other Italian young actressess would have done it superbly. Obviously another exhibition of Coppola's egocentricism.