Not as Bad as You've Heard

Rating: Null/10 (6 March 2000)

Though no fan of gangster movies, I find the Corleones keep pulling me back in. The Godfather, of course, is the best free-standing movie of Coppola's series, and no sequels were necessary in Puzo's and Coppola's extremely well done near-parody, where a gangster story is raised to the levels of Shakespearean tragedy. Once Part 2 was made, Part 3 was an eventual necessity, as a coda. Taken together, the series raises the gangster story to Homeric proportions and makes all other mob flicks glitter like glass compared to Coppola's diamond.
Welcome in this movie were the Byzantine Vatican intrigues -- and the portrayal of at least one true man of faith (perhaps the last ever to appear in a mainstream movie). Eli Wallach made a fine addition to the series. The cinematography, as always, was gorgeous.
Less than welcome: the fact that Robert Duvall turned it down (it would've been nice for him to have a respectable death scene), and the fact that, good though the film is, the typical bloodbath at the end is confusing. The very very very end scene is cheapened the movie and the series.

The major problem is focus. There are simply too many loose strands in this yarn, and it was understandably difficult to tie the ragged ends together. Then, this movie is simply too dependent on what came before, which gives it nary a chance to stand on its own.