Completing the trilogy of the best family films made

Rating: 9/10 (31 January 2019)

In the final instalment of the Godfather trilogy, Michael Corleone is trying to legitimize the family business - but the past dealings and history of the family business keep pulling him back into the shadows of the crime world. It's about 22 years since what happened in Godfather 2; Michael is older, and as are the people around him, and his kids. In fact, its children from the generations of the films past that play a major part in this film, almost making them as important an entity as children were in the first Godfather film which saw Michael emerge from the shadows.
Sonny's illegitimate son Vincent Mancini (Andy Garcia) has a feud with Joey Zasa who's now the face of the Corleone business in New York, while at the same time falling in love with Michael's daughter Mary (Sofia Coppola), the face of Michael's charity business. Michael is less than impressed with Mancini, especially the fact that he has his eye on Michael's daughter, but he begrudgingly takes him under his wing - Michael also sees Sonny's traits in Mancini and feels he could be moulded. Unfortunately life has taken a toll on Michael and we see a frail side to him as his health slowly deteriorates. After a diabetic coma, Michael has plenty of time to reflect on life - in fact reflection becomes a major part of the film - Reflection of moments and people lost, of the finality of death and the legacy that is left when the body is no longer there. I think the misconception about this film, and possibly the reason for mixed reviews and low ratings is this - it isn't truly and out-and-out gangster movie like the previous two instalments have been. This film is about the conclusion of a character that, despite being a young man in the first film, wasn't really born until his father was attacked. We see the birth of Michael's darker side in Godfather 1, we see what he has the power to become in Godfather 2, and we see the results and conclusion of Michael in Godfather 3. This is more a fictional biopic than a gangster film. Sure it has Mafioso and Gangsters in it, but there is an underlying and unspoken narrative driving it forward, and when that clicks into place it's all about stories and reflections.
Another reason why this film was panned in comparison to its predecessors is the casting choice and some of the dialogue - I don't see a massive problem myself though. Some of the dialogue when the issue was to do with the crime family were cliché and expectable - but that's because the other films set it up. The dialogue to do with Michael's real character, that's what was more unexpected - with how Michael built himself up in the first two, you wouldn't expect the frailty from him. At the final conclusion, it could be argued that a broken heart is what ultimately kills him - not bullets, not words - loss, unspoken emotion, feelings.
My rating for this will match the previous two Godfather films. The other films were more obvious, this is more subtle and clever. I have read the books by Mario Puzo, I have read the books in-between the books (Mark Winegardner) and in-between the movies. I still can't not like this film - it's feels like a tragic opera, almost like it's a commentary of itself and the legacies that are paved the way for it. My rating for this, like the previous Godfather films is 9 out of 10.