As much as it pains me to say so, given this is one of "The Godfather" titles, this film is an unfortunate bookend to an otherwise timelessly classic, beautifully written, impeccably acted, and hauntingly filmed saga. The storyline should have ended with the time-jumping, prequel flashbacks which filled in the rich backstory of the Corleone family in The Godfather: Part II. I rated The Godfather: Part III a six (6) star rating based on the films lineage. Also, I gave the film an additional rating star for each of the actors reprising their respective roles and given their acting linage. (This is not a one to ten rating of the actors themselves--only additional start ratings for them film itself): one (1) star for Al Pacino, one (1) star for Diane Keaton, and one (1) star for Talia Shire. For the storyline a negative two (-2), and for associating itself with the first two films a negative two (-2); it fell far short of earning the privilege of being one of "The Godfather" films. Alas, it receives a 5/10 rating...a generous gift.

Honestly, I am baffled with all the negative reviews that I have read for the final part of this timeless classic. The story picks up couple of years later after the second part ended. Michael's kids are all grown up now and they have different visions and ambitions for their lives that not necessarily correspond with their father's plan. Michael is doing everything in his power to finally turn a new page in his family's life and leave the dark past behind, but soon figures out that things are not as simple as he wishes them to be. We are introduced to a new character, Vincent (Sonny's illegitimate son), who has his father's temper but still menages to find the patience to listen to his wise uncle. The only thing that i really missed in this movie was Robert Duvall's character. Also i have to say that i strongly disagree with the critics who argue that Francis Coppola made a wrong decision by casting his daughter as Michael Corleone's daughter. I think Sofia Coppola played her role perfectly. And when it comes to the ending.. i never cried to any movie's ending (I was really close while watching the ending of One flew over the Cuckoo's nest) but man this ending left me speechless. If you are a movie fan do yourself a favor and watch all three movies because they are a piece of movie history that will be remembered for generations.

I watched The Godfather Part 2 again after not having seen it for a number of years. I fell in love with it for the first time, especially the acting and the cinematography. I felt compelled to see 3 right after that, mainly because I was feeling the glow of the excellence of 2. I was hoping that that 3 was actually better than I had remembered from past viewing, and I was wrong. I've read lots of reviews about the plot and Sophia Coppola's wooden acting and still my major complaint from the get-go is the god-awful acting. Every one in the movie appears false! I just couldn't get beyond how forced each line appeared. Maybe the story was effective yet I couldn't get through enough of the film to understand the plot because of how painful it was to watch each actor deliver his/her lines. It's so excruciatingly obvious that Francis Ford Coppola was not inspired nor were his actors. All in all, the message this film conveys to me is that it was made under duress. It has no artistic connection whatsoever to the previous masterpieces of the same name.

Old Francis Ford must have really been off his meds when he made this film. He's lucky they didn't take away his director's chair for good. First of all the three leading women were absolutely an embarrassment to the art of film and I blame terrible acting on the director. It's his project and he can either get what he wants on film or get new actors. I think that just about any three other actresses would have done a better job than his daughter, his cousin, and Diane Keaton. Talia Shire gives an absolutely cringe-worthy performance at every step and Sofia Coppola is just no one's idea of an actress. What was he thinking? Eli Wallach was also completely horrible. Joe Mantegna plays a silly caricature of a gangster which works well in parody form on The Simpsons but is ridiculous in this movie. Even Al Pacino phones this one in.Andy Garcia carries about 90% of this movie and without him it would have been completely awful."He dips his bullets in cyanide," it is said of one of the gangsters which is just stupid because bullets are pretty much lethal all on their own.The story is a convoluted mess that tries to wow us with its intricacies but all of the Vatican shenanigans just come across as desperation because they didn't have much of a story to sell.The only saving grace of the movie are the few well-done action sequences and a couple of other scenes that add tension. The meeting between Al, Andy, and Joe in the office, the hit scene in the apartment, the execution of Joey Zaza, to name a few. The helicopter shootout of the casino was way, way over-the-top and stupid.Most of the movie is the film equivalent of fly-over country, or fast-forward country.