Good movie - not as good Godfather movie

Rating: Null/10 (15 May 2003)

Sixteen years after Godfather Part II came out, the third one came out to wrap up the storylines. What ends up happening is a solid movie, but not quite as good as Godfather movie. It doesn't seem like it was the intent of Francis Ford Coppola or Mario Puzo to make this one great, but rather just to complete things. Coppola's direction is strong, but he treats this just like a movie. The script is solid, not exactly as original or brilliant as the first two but relatively strong. Al Pacino offers possibly his best performance as Micheal, a man troubled by his life and a man trying to go legitimate. Unfortunately, things don't quite work out as well and even he says "Every time I try to get out, they suck me back in." Diane Keaton is again, miscast as always. To replace Robert Duvall from the first film, and Robert De Niro from the second, Andy Garcia plays a supporting role of major importance to the plot. His unerving performance as the violent and angry Tony earned him an Oscar nomination, which was somewhat deserved. He feels a bit too over- the- top though and doesn't do the key emotional moments as well as James Cann in Part I did. The technical aspects of this movie don't give it quite the glossy feel of the first two, but rather just a gritty normal crime drama. However, the plots sometimes feels a bit jumpy, the connections between characters still unclear and the violence too overdone. It's a solid movie, but not really that good of a Godfather movie. 7.5/10