Considering the way it inadvertently lampoons and nearly diminishes the earlier two films, this is nothing less than a travesty. Everything that was subtle and insinuating about this family crime saga is obviously laid out in the open here, so that most of the dialogue consists of characters spelling out the series’ underlying themes. Even the best actors falter given this material – Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone is an entirely different creature than the man in the first two pictures – so it’s no surprise that the likes of Andy Garcia and especially director Francis Ford Coppola’s daughter, Sofia, nearly drown. As for Coppola, he offers the rare opportunity to watch a performer throw a tomato at himself.
