A good movie but not as good as the first two

Rating: 8/10 (15 April 2017)

Compared to the first two Godfather movies which were masterpieces, even though this third and final installment in the franchise is a disappointment even though I did happen to like this movie. This movie wasn't adapted from the Mario Puzo novel but it obviously did use mostly the same characters with some new additions. The movie is set roughly 20 years after which part II ended beginning in 1979 and Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) is still the head of the Corleone crime family but now he is using his power before retirement to do good with founding the Vito Andolini Corleone foundation (which is obviously named after his father) with his daughter Mary (Sofia Coppola) who happens to have a crush on her cousin Vincent (Andy Garcia). With that relationship Michael is very reluctant to let it continue. Also during this time Michael and his ex-wife Kay (Diane Keaton) are still divorced, he has only one sibling left which is his sister Connie (Talia Shire), and he wants his son Anthony (Franc D'Ambrosio)to join his foundation, but his son refuses and then goes on the path to his own career. Before and during Vincent and Mary flirting Vincent had a girlfriend named Grace Hamilton (Bridget Fonda). Francis Ford Coppola is no question a great director and a fantastic screenwriter but this movie not only flops compared to the first two films, but it also pales in comparison to every great mob movie that I have ever seen, which is why I think that it's a good movie not by any means a great one. The problems that I had with this movie are that, Coppola could have gotten deeper into the story like he did with the first two, and one of the positives is that the acting is very good with standout performances from Pacino, Keaton, Garcia (who got an Oscar nomination), Fonda, Shire, and the great Eli Wallach as an aging mobster named Altobello. But the only performance that was really embarrassing to watch was Sofia Coppola's because I got the impression that when she was filming her scenes her dad was probably telling her to improve and she didn't every time and then pretended to like it with in the next several takes, and that she was cast all because she is Francis Ford Coppola's daughter, but then again that's just me. This was a beautiful movie to look at and to watch but if Sofia Coppola had improved on her performance the movie would have been better than I currently perceive it to be, but it's still an honorable conclusion to follow two masterpieces.