Lambie Reviews: The Godfather: Part III

Year: 1990
Accolades: Nominated for a bunch of awards, but ultimately disliked by many.

With anther three hour epic, Francis Ford Coppola completed the story of the Godfather. While in terms of production value The Godfather: Part III is up there with the other two film, it is also widely considered to be the worst of the three and it's not hard to see why. While the first two films were dense with plot (to the point where I was often trying to work out what was going on), this film seems to suffer from an extremely simplistic plot. There are no subtleties and very few subplots to deal with. Many people have also panned Sofia Coppola's performance in this film. I wouldn't dismiss it completely, but there were some awkward moments in her performance and she didn't seem to display a huge emotional range when required.

Coppola considered this to be an epilogue to the first two films, rather than a stand-alone film in its own right. That consideration really makes the film suffer, especially with its long running time. By the end of Part II, Michael Corleone was alone, having killed or driven away his family. In Part III he tries to make amends in order to protect what is left of his family. In that sense it certainly feels like an epilogue, but it's an idea that could have been served up at the end of Part II, although the final image and tones of Part II would have had less of an impact.

What really infuriated me about Part III, though, was the final act. What starts of as a tale of one man wanting redemption and another man wanting revenge descends into a final climax set in an opera theatre. Combined with the dark lighting and the similarly looking characters running around everywhere, it's near impossible to tell what is going on, who is supposed to be fighting for who, who is meant to be guarding Corleone, and just how many people there are running around the joint.

It all culminates in what is, at first, a shocking, gut-wrenchingly tragic moment. So tragic that Coppola supposedly had to cut out the audio of one character's cries. It's a moment that demands retribution, and leaves the audience lusting for vengeance. One scene later, and the film ends.

And I felt cheated. Cheated and confused as to why a great director like Coppola would go for something that as the final credits roll made me feel as though the whole thing was just a cheap shot to add some tragedy. The way the whole thing is handled and structured means that we are left wanting closure, but all we get is a bunch of deaths that ultimately feel pointless.

The Godfather: Part III isn't a bad film, but when you hold it up to the pedestal of the first two films, its ultimately a disappointing experience.