From the sublime... to the merely OK

Rating: 6/10 (6 February 2010)

It was never going to be easy for anyone - even the original cast and creative team - to come up with a worthy epilogue to the Godfather saga. What disappoints me most about this film is that there were too many missed opportunities, resulting in a stylish but meandering melodrama that is a far from satisfactory final act.
Inevitably, where established characters have to be played by the same actors, there will be the odd crack to paper over - most regrettably, Tom Hagen's absence due to the failed negotiations over Robert Duvall's fee. Yet even where characters are retained, they bear curiously little resemblance to their younger selves. One of the most compelling aspects of the first instalment was Michael's slow transformation from squeaky-clean war hero into ruthless Mafia don; his reversion to 'good guy' status might have been equally fascinating but is never really explored. Meanwhile, his sister Connie seems to have assumed an uncompromising, matriarchal role quite at odds with the revulsion she displayed at Michael's earlier behaviour. Again, the intervening years alone are all that is offered by way of explanation.
Also, although one can accept that new characters are inevitable, the introduction of Vincent seems both contrived and unnecessary - adjectives that sadly are equally appropriate in describing this film's plot, which takes a great deal of time to unfold into very little. A far more intriguing storyline would have seen Mary murdered earlier in the film (and not just because of Sofia Coppola's lamentable acting) and then focused on a profound dilemma for Michael: whether to turn the other cheek and accept this karmic punishment for his transgressions, or to avenge his daughter's death by plunging back into the shady world from which he is so desperate to escape.
This could have been a truly poignant and morally ambiguous conclusion to the series but as it turned out, The Godfather III is neither sufficiently consistent with its predecessors to be a convincing sequel, nor engaging enough to be anywhere near as remarkable a film in its own right. Admittedly, it could have been far worse - but the sad thing is that it really should have been better.