Extremely Disappointing

Rating: 2/10 (24 April 2006)

I realize this had very little hope of measuring up to the 1st two GFs, but I never imagined III would be SUCH a disappointingly off-the-mark failure. Difficult to believe it even could've been made by the same people.
This movie had absolutely none of the fascinating believability of the 1st two: NO gangsters would actually use the pretentious empty (and annoying) dialogue that pre-dominated here; NOR would they conduct hits in the extravagant Hollywood-concocted manner here (Helicopter/parade scenes etc.)that seem more appropriate for Batman type movies whereas the whole vatican/immobilario plot base seems more at home in a James Bond flick; characters react throughout as their counterparts in I and II never would have; and entire plot lines (especially the incestuous cousin-love angle) needed to be thrown out entirely. An average Sopranos episode gives a far more interesting and realistic Cosa Nostra portrayal.
And the performances only made it worse. Sophia Coppola was justifiably panned for being dreadful--it looked as if she was reading her lines for the 1st time off cue-cards. But even Pacino seems to have lost track of his character. Michael was so compelling in I and II because of the introverted, extraordinarily controlled, always-calculating way he conducted the "family business", but none of that was apparent in Pacino's III overacted portrayal of an almost-whiny Michael prone to regular emotional outbursts.
You get the idea, I didn't like it. Coppola appears to have grown terribly pretentious and uninspired, and has thoroughly lost touch with the creative vision that made the 1st two GFs so great. If you haven't seen it, I suggest you don't. Re-watch I and II, pretend this never happened.