Coppola IS the Godfather

Rating: 5/10 (16 June 2002)

This movie isn't as bad as some say, but it proves that the 'Godfather' trilogy is nothing more than the Coppola story wrapped in a Mario puzzo novel. The dvd commentary by Francis Ford explains the numerous elements of the director's family story that were inserted in the movies.
Furthermore he got all his relatives to take part in the making of the films and even play in them. Of course he didn't care if they were lacking talent, he only wanted to make it a Coppola family business.
His sister Talia was bad in the first movie, but she got better in the next films. In Part III his daughter Sophia was the worst actress ever. How did he do this to her and to the movie! Just to make himself feel better, by knowing that he does the story of his family.
I have no respect for Coppola's work in the 90's (his Dracula was the worst Dracula interpretation ever) and Part III is no gem either. It's got the new over-the-top Al Pacino though, that makes the movie's ending shine, so I give him that.
Robert Duvall made a smart move and refused to play in the last film, but Coppola had the nerve to put the blame on him for the disaster of the movie.
'The Godfather, Part III' isn't a lot worse than the first 2 movies, instead of what others seem to believe. In the first 'Godfather', it was Marlon Brando's performance that made the movie what it is (Al Pacino could hardly talk), Part II is the biggest soap opera movie ever and the third is just the natural conclusion to the story. Nothing too bad or too different.
6/10