Not on par with the first two, but hardly a waste of time

Rating: 8/10 (16 November 2011)

Ah, "Godfather III", the ultimate black sheep. So often criticized, so often ridiculed, so consistently beaten into the ground that I was actually pretty reluctant to see it. When two of your favorite movies of all time are followed by some sort of popular running gag it's pretty off-putting, and you fear it will ruin the character's mystique. Unjustly though, because "Godfather III" is a very worthy end to this trilogy. Most of what you may have heard is true, but it isn't as bothersome as I thought it would be. Yes, Sofia Coppola couldn't do a decent line delivery to save her life, but at least she isn't really in this thing much. Yes, some returning characters have become completely redundant , but if you leave them out you're stuck with about two original actors (and I'm counting Richard "Al Neri" Bright, which is already a stretch). It's flaws just don't weigh up to its merits, that's all I'm saying. "Godfather III" carries all the ingredients I loved about its predecessors, it's chock full of memorable scenes and feature some of the best lines in the entire trilogy. The scene where Michael utters the now legendary "Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in" is absolutely magnificent, and there's plenty more where that came from. The finale is pretty mediocre compared to the rest, but the movie immediately wins you back with an incredibly powerful ending scene. No better way to end this trilogy, I'm actually talking about both that scene and the entire movie. Don't believe the hype, this final chapter is definitely worth seeing.