The Godfather: Part III (DVD)

Francis Ford Coppola's third installment is a major disappointment. Made two decades after the second part it is an embarrassment in comparison to the power and meaning of its predecessors. Coppola was a cocky young director full of ambition and drive when the first 2 were made. With this film, just as with Michael Corleone he has become middle-aged, flabby and filled with a constant nostalgia without regard to the present. As with the first 2 Part 3 begins with a religious ceremony, as Michael receives the Catholic honour of San Sebastian. This device allows Coppola to introduce us to new characters and fill us in with developments within the family. The ...

Sequels are notoriously ropy affairs - you get the awesome first in the class, then, buoyed by the huge audience and dollar signs, the makers set out to exploit the brand and follow up with a lacklustre second episode which somehow never captures the same magic quality that set its predecessor apart from the crowd. Go on, try and think of a half way decent follow up - I can think of a few, Aliens for definite, Batman Returns at a push and Jaws 2 in some respects, Godfather 2 (come back to that one). But that's about it, and for every masterpiece you get a thousand dire sequels, stuff like Jurassic Park: The Lost World, Damien: The Omen 2, Hannibal, Exorcist II: The ...

Some say three’s company; others say three’s a crowd. Of course some of the best things comes in three’s and this can apply to the Godfather trilogy of films. After proving that a sequel could be better than it’s original it was many years before cameras started to role on the third instalment in 1990. It’s 1979 and we join the Corleone family who are now based in New York, still at the head of the family is Michael (Al Pacino) but now their business dealings are going on the straight and narrow. They’ve sold the casinos and are moving to be a big part of the Vatican church’s business dealings. But the threat of trouble ...