As an individual, the film holds its own but as a sequel. It lost its identity.

Rating: 6/10 (28 August 2015)

The Godfather Part 3 coming out in 1990, starring the likes of Al Pacino, Andy Garcia and Talia Shire is a commendable effort by the director legend Francis Ford Coppola. The film undoubtedly delivers a strong punch with exceptional acting, direction and screenplay scoring not one but seven academy award nominations. But as a huge Godfather franchise fan I can't help but feel disappointed. The first two films in the series are the hallmarks of the golden era of Hollywood. Especially The Godfather part II in my opinion is one of, if the not the Best cinematic wonders ever achieved. But then comes the part III in the sequence. There are so many points on which comparison can be drawn but let's just focus on the biggest one. The character of Don Michael Corleone. Michael Corleone the youngest of three sons of Don Vito Corleone succeeds his father's Huge underworld empire to become the next Mafioso Don of the entire States. He leads a dual life, one as the head of an immense empire and the other of a family man. His character is shown (in the first two films at least) as a very intelligent yet quite man who has an obvious aura of unquestionable power and authority. He seldom raises his voice or displays extremes of emotion e.g. anger or sadness. But when he does, you can not help but be awed. This completely changes or rather, Disappears in the third installment of the series. Michael Corleone who have aged considerably since, and is a father of two grown up teens, also divorced, is an unrecognizable man. The same person who once was a stone hearted, cold blooded killer and the head of a ruthless gigantic empire is now.. reduced, to an old man. Who can not seem to get a grip on his own family and ever slowly crumbling empire. The personality of this man is now utterly different, he openly celebrates with his comrades, dances around, laughing/crying publicly and even confessing to his previous sins! This to me was the most disappointing point of the entire film as I can not seem to find a single shard of similarity between the character of Don Michael Corleone of the first two Godfather films and the Don Michael Corleone of the Godfather Part III. The man who was so reserved and self-contained now seems to me to be the precise opposite. And let me clarify that age CAN NOT be an excuse in this case as such a huge change in personality does not occur in a lifetime let alone 20/30 years. As stated earlier that people watching part III of the installment without prior knowledge of the other two will enjoy it immensely, but die-hard fans like me can't help but be saddened. Thank you.