This one is going to be interesting. Well, how could I explain that this movie practically upended what I wanted to do for the rest of this month. Originally, I was supposed to talk about The Godfather Part 3 and a new recut version that came out three years ago. So I searched through my various streaming services to no avail. With that, to wrap up my odyssey of viewing The Godfather series. Here’s what I think of the 2020 recut.
1. Did There Really Have to Be a Third One?
When you have two movies of a series be the best ones, it’s a Herculean task to come up with a satisfying story to wrap up the view of a complex man like Michael Corleone. Everything seemed to nicely end with the ending of Part 2, with Michael sitting alone pondering everything he’d done at that point. To me, sometimes it’s interesting to have the overarching story just have two parts. Since it feels like an obligatory fulfillment to create the final act.
So, you probably wondering with the big gap in time in terms of release, how and why did this film get made? From what I gathered; Paramount wanted to do a third one without the help of Francis Ford Coppola. He’d gone on to other projects in the 80s, but he suffered some financial problems due to one of his films bombing in the box office. In turn, he accepted Paramount’s offer of wrapping up the final chapter.
Since I saw the recut version instead of the original theatrical cut, it’s such a stark contrast of the prior two. Obviously, as I stated prior it’s a monumental task to shoot and create a story that is on par with the last entry. So much so that visually it looks so drastically different. And that’s not by accident since the studio practically slashed the budget of the film. Giving Coppola very little to work with.
With all that background context explained, here’s what happened. The film now focuses on Michael as he is bereft with grief over his killing of his brother. In acts of atonement, he donates to various charities and tries to distance his family from the organized crime. While attempting to find a new successor, he finds Vincent to become the new Don of the family.
In between all of that, we follow Michael’s daughter Mary’s exploits with Vincent. I’ll talk about that more in the next tab, it’s controversial in retrospect. I think what the film doesn’t do so well is that the story is kind of all over the place. It would’ve just been simple if it focused on Michael and Vincent as a simple passing of the torch, while also showing Michael’s past actions catch up to him.
I think the film tried too much that it really made me bored watching the whole movie. Like, the thing that people go and watch the series is the overall chess like dialogue and betrayal within the family. Involving an abstract element like the Church unintentionally gives the series the jumping the shark moment. It’s just not that interesting since it’s supposed to tie in with the forgiveness that Michael is looking for.
If there’s anything good to say is that I enjoyed Vincent’s character. It’s uncanny that he nearly looks like Pacino. He has this ruthless energy where he actively kills the goons that is looking to off him and the Corleone’s. If there’s one scene where I like, it’s the one where he kills the burglars in his apartment. That whole moment goes to show his method to get the name of who’s trying to kill him.
2. Other Reasons Why This Film Doesn’t Work
Before I talk more about the symbolic “Death” of Michael, I must talk about Sofia Coppola. After the release of the theatrical cut of Part 3, the level of criticism to her was massive. People singled her out because of the supposed nepotism in Hollywood. And of course, her very bad acting. To be fair, this wasn’t the first time that she appeared in any of The Godfather movies. She was in the baptism scene in the first entry and with the crowd when Vito arrives in America.
Her acting chops is stale whenever she’s with Vincent or Michael. Like, I really wondered if Francis just didn’t bother with giving her direction of how to properly voice out the lines. More so that I have no clear rationale as to why there’s a subplot involving her love with Vincent. It’s explicitly stated that they’re cousins. Apparently, it was a custom that was allowed within the Sicilian community in the past.
In terms of story, it’s such a head scratcher since I know that it’s supposed to mirror the relationship between Michael and Kay in the first film. The key difference is that Michael was attempting to distance himself from the family, but ultimately becoming embroiled and ultimately being the new Don. This one is just underdeveloped and rushed, since there’s other story beats to follow where it’s in the back burner.
Lastly, let’s talk about the “Death” of Michael Corleone. I can at least apologize by stating that I spoiled myself by watching the ending of the theatrical cut. The way Michael dies is so unintentionally hilarious that I’m glad Coppola changed it in the new cut of the film. As the film’s subtitle states, Michael dies in the film, but not in the way that you think. He has yet another assassination attempt, but this time it hit someone he cares deeply.
This is the part where it feels decent since it involves the overarching story of Michael finding redemption and atonement for his past. As I talked about, he donates to various charities within the church and is warned that he must pay for his past sins. Leading up to the finale, where the family is seeing the play his son Anthony is in, it’s supposed to represent Michael when the play is about the death of Christ.
The way the assassination is played out is great since we see Michael in pain. How he cries and just belt it out is unnerving that you honestly feel bad for him. Regardless of what he did in the last films, that this moment is such a sad thing to see.
3. Overall
The Godfather Coda is an okay finale to a great series. In my opinion, it’s an unnecessary finale to a story where it already had a finale.
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