Saturday, November 30, 2013

The Godfather: Part III (1990)

Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Writers:  Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola
Cast:      Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Andy Garcia, Sofia Coppola, Eli Wallach

The film is set in 1979, where Micheal Corleone is a respected figure in the community as he almost completely moves away from the illegitimate businesses through which he had accumulated his wealth. Andy Garcia plays the role of his nephew from Sonny's mistress, who gradually moves up from the role of Micheal's muscle to become the next don.

The story establish a link between Micheal Corleone with the Vatican banking scandal and the short reign of pope John Paul One. It was inevitable for the film to be compared with its two predecessors and the bar is just too high for it to match. I found it to be an alright film when I saw it for the first time around five years back. On second watch I realize it is just not good enough on a standalone basis even. Whilst the first two were all about subtlety and about characters, this one is plot driven. And the plot is not very interesting and the operatic climax is just tedious. I think they tried to make the film stand on its own so that people who haven't watched the first two could also watch it. So you have got plenty of exposition which the first two films didn't do at all. There is just far too much dialog.

Godfather is all about the character Micheal Corleone  and in the third part, he is not recognizable from the character he had become by the end of part two. It can be explained that he changed again with age but the thing is he is not that interesting in the third film. The film got made because Coppola was again in financial trouble and the studio rushed the film to have a Christmas release instead of an Easter one. I really don't think it would have made too much difference to it as it was just a money making exercise. It is better not to watch it and stop after the part two.

Rating: 2.5/5


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