Unnecessary and overwrought but reasonably interesting and entertaining

Rating: 6/10 (29 May 2016)

It is 1979, about 22 years since the events of The Godfather II. For Michael Corleone, the move to legitimacy is complete: the New York crime business has been handed over to Joey Zasa and all elements of the Corleone business empire are legal, non-criminal enterprises. Michael, approaching 60, is now thinking about his legacy. His charity, run by his daughter Mary, has just handed over $100 million to the Catholic Church. Michael also intends buying a large stake in International Immobiliari, a Vatican-run property company. Things are peaceful and stable but then Vincent Mancini, Sonny Corleone's illegitimate son, starts a feud with Joey Zasa. This has far- reaching, deadly consequences, including for Michael's deal with the Vatican.
Unnecessary, as The Godfather II didn't need a sequel. Francis Ford Coppola has stated that he only did it for the money.
The product itself is a bit hit-and-miss. Plot has some intrigue, with a Robert Ludlum-like Vatican conspiracy woven into a more conventional mafia story. This does mean a departure from the feel of the first two movies, and I'm note sure it's a good departure. The plot becomes unnecessarily complex and overwrought, making it less tight than the first two movies. Coppola also unnecessarily draws out the movie - every scene gets stretched to the limit and there's a lot of padding. He could easily have lopped 40 minutes (at least) off the movie without us losing any information or engagement.
Then there's the performances, which are mostly good, with two notable exceptions. The old guard - Al Pacino, Dianne Keaton, Talia Shire - put in solid performances. The change in Connie, from passive to assertive and decisive, was one of the positive features of this movie and Talia Shire is great in that role.
The new faces include some pretty big names: Eli Wallach, Joe Mantegna, Andy Garcia, George Hamilton, John Savage, Bridget Fonda. Andy Garcia is great as Vincent Mancini, a worthy (potential) successor to Michael. Bridget Fonda is great but criminally underused, especially as it appeared that she would have a bigger role. Eli Wallach and Joe Mantegna are solid as Don Altobello and Joey Zasa, respectively, and John Savage has little screen time.
George Hamilton is badly miscast as BJ Harrison, Michael's attorney. He really didn't fit the part and comes off as somewhat unconvincing. He was stepping into Robert Duvall's shoes - Tom Hagen was meant to continue into The Godfather III but the character was dropped when Robert Duvall pulled out over a pay dispute - so he does suffer due to the comparison with Duvall.
Then we have the performance which almost single-handedly wrecks this movie: Sofia Coppola. She is absolutely atrocious as Mary Corleone, well deserving her 1991 Razzie wins for Worst Supporting Actress and Worst New Star. Her dialogue delivery is incredibly flat and unconvincing and even when she has no dialogue she seems awkward, like she doesn't know what to do with herself when she's on camera.
Her flat delivery results in lack of engagement with her character, and this ruins the climax of the movie. So, there are greater consequences to her terrible performance.
It's a good thing she took up directing - she's clearly better at that.
Apparently she wasn't first choice for the part, as Julia Roberts and then Winona Ryder were cast for the role but then had to pull out. So at least Francis Ford Coppola could say she was hired more out of desperation than being his daughter. Still, he really should have kept looking...
(Aside: Winona Ryder as Mary - how awesome would that have been? The mind boggles. And yes, I am a big Winona Ryder fan.)
Overall: not bad, but not that good either.