A film that didn't have to be made

Rating: Null/10 (24 May 2004)

In "The Godfather III" we are once again treated to the workings of the Corleone family vis a vis Michael (Pacino). The setting is 1979, (although you wouldn't know it looking at the costumes and hairstyles) Michael, contemplating his past sins, is about to divest his interests in the illegal operations which have made him wealthy (and many enemies), by going into business with the vatican, as the owner of a church owned corporation. Its a bit of a stretch, to say the least.
The main problem with The Godfather III lies in the script. Written by Mario Puzo, and F. F. Coppola, it feels forced. The superb and iconic Godfather and Godfather 2 really gave us all we need to know about this perfectly evil man, Michael. At the end of GF 2 we see michael all alone, having just ordered the death of his brother Fredo. His wife is gone along with his children, his friends murdered, his family in ruins, Michael is left alone. The wages of sin as my father would say...GF 2 shows the end of this man without even getting into detail about his final years, we can safely assume that Michael led the rest of his life in solitude and dies a broken man, as the ending alludes. However, Paramount pictures, wanting to milk some more dough from this cash cow, had Coppola and Puzo resurrect the series with this wasted effort. Almost redundant in the fact that many of the scenes are rehashed from the prior godfather installments. Less than stellar acting performances from several key characters, not including the villified Sophia Coppola, who was not great, but of minor consequence. I doubt a bravura performances would have saved the script.
Andy Garcia was serviceable as Sonny's love child, but I didn't really care about him. Eli Wallach did not really strike me as an Italian mafioso, where Lee Strasberg really BECAME Jewish gangster Hyman Roth in GF 2. A missing Robert Duvall did not help the situation either. All told, GF3 is the weak link in this chain. Stick with GF and GF2.