A Great Conclusion To One of the Best Film Franchises In Cinematic History

Rating: Null/10 (3 August 2006)

Michael Corleone has gotten old. He wants to go straight--given a slightly liberal definition of that term. He's gotta get out. And he almost does. He sells his illegal business to win back his family, but most importantly, his wife and son. But he still has things to deal with, such as Vincent, Sonny's bastard son, and Joey Zasa, the rival clan leader who purchased Mike's territory. Mike also has to deal with a corrupt priest turns to him for help. He will donate a large sum of money to the Catholic Church, and in return, he will own the majority of the 'International Immobilarie', a company whose shares lie in the protection of the Catholic Church. But this is a setup.
This was the least-well received of the Godfather films, and I can guess why. The fans did not have their Michael Corleone. Yeah, they had a guy named Al Pacino playing someone named Michael Corleone, but it was not the same Michael from the first two films. This Michael was straightened out. He did not resort to revenge. He did not do to his enemies what the fans wanted him to do. He was the Marlon Brando of the third movie, only not quite as memorable.
Another reason I know this movie was bashed was for its acting--particularly from Sofia Coppola (other than that, the movie was fine in terms of performances). I did not like her acting, but it didn't ruin the movie for me. It didn't distract me from the story. I noticed the flaws in her performance at first, but then got used to it. I sympathized with her when people bashed. I realized that this was her first real role in a film. You can't expect Oscar-material out of a first-time actress. I felt even more sympathy towards her when I turned on the audio commentary by Francis Ford Coppola. I'm sure even if the bashers heard what he had to say...well, Coppola does evoke sympathy for his daughter.
Now that that's out of the way, I'll move on to the technical side of the movie. Gordon Willis' dark cinematography fits in for the dark mood of the film. His yellowish hue so present in the previous films has faded, gone now into a sort of nineteen seventies vibe. And I will stand by the fact that you can have a lot of static camera, and still evoke emotion.
Nino Rota, sadly, had passed on by the time this film was underway. But not all hope was lost, for Carmine Coppola had worked on the previous two pictures behind the scenes in the music department, and now stepped up to the enormous task of scoring the movie. While he did not come up with the iconic themes, he did some wonderful orchestrations that I still love to listen to.
Francis Coppola's direction is in the same vein as Part I and II, which is not a bad thing. There is a fair amount of violence, but there is also some great acting. Pacino shines, as always. Talia Shire also deserves some recognition for the role she plays--quite different to that of the first two. Sadly though, the absence of Robert Duvall also hurt the movie. But the real star here is the obvious Andy Garcia--the bastard son of Sonny Corleone, Vincent. His Oscar nod for this was well deserved.
Without giving that much away, I will say that this had one of the most emotional climaxes I've seen in any movie in the past few years. So, overall, this is a great conclusion to one of the best film franchises in cinematic history.