Ehh O.k.

Rating: 6/10 (10 August 2005)

Movie worth seeing if for no other reason than to close out the trilogy, the first two parts of which are among the greatest movies every made. This movie has its moments, but does not hang together real well. The highs include some of the early scenes, the Vatican scenes, and some of the scenes in Sicily, but the story is too inflated/overblown and unrealistic to fit with the other movies in the trilogy, which artfully walked a line between myth and reality. The helicopter assassination attempt treads into Bruce Willis terrain, Joe Mantegna (uncharacteristically) does not do well in this movie - his dialog is terrible at points (see the meeting of the commission), ditto Andy Garcia (blurting out "I want Joey Zaza dead" like someone suffering from Tourettes syndrome at various points). Talia Shire is uncharacteristically good in this movie, but her new found role in the family is jarringly out of place in the trilogy. Pacino does great with limited material. Overall worth seeing once, but if it weren't for its predecessors would stand out as one of Coppola's poorer efforts.