I feel like if this was the way Coppola wanted the original ending to play out, he probably would’ve shot it a bit differently. Well, it’ll depend on how you take it, really. The ending has also been changed, though it’s not a drastic difference than the first.
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I do believe it could have gone father, but given that there wasn’t anything but the original cut to work with, The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone really does deliver a much stronger narrative of what Michael is striving to achieve at this later stage in his life. Michael’s quest for redemption after falling so far by the end of the second film is intriguing and superbly acted by Al Pacino. While I know it’s viewed as the least favourite in the trilogy (as often seems to be the case when attempting to close out beloved trilogies) I actually found the film incredibly enjoyable. This is the case with everything that Coppola has done with his recut of The Godfather Part III, as he still had to work with what was shot and available, but he’s helped clear up the storytelling waters quite a bit by shuffling around various scenes and trimming them where needed. So right away we get more information, it sets the tone of the film and we lose five minutes of needlessness that just drags the story along. So now without the award ceremony in the church that’s just slow and turns out, completely pointless, we now go right from Michael’s meeting with Archbishop Gilday to the after-party that follows the church ceremony in the original. Sure, it may become somewhat clear later on, but it’s so much better getting this information out in the opening scene instead of having to wait 40-minutes to even know what deal Michael is planning with the church. It makes Michael’s deal with the church and his desire to truly get his family away from anything criminal clear right from the outset, unlike the start of Part III, which began with Michael getting an award from the church (which has been cut completely) and it’s unclear why this is important. What this does, however, is it changes the pacing and storytelling of the film entirely. The first things fans of the franchise will notice is that the beginning isn’t actually new, but it’s a scene taken from 40-minutes into the original film. Right out of the gate I’ll say that the hate that The Godfather Part III received may or may not have been warranted, as I can see how the subplots and waves of new names and characters could leave the narrative feeling muddied however, The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone has allowed Coppola to go back and re-edit various scenes, included the film’s beginning and ending, and while I never sat down and watched the original, I did go over it after seeing this new version and I have to say that the changes are for the better and I believe that this release of the film will give the trilogy the stronger conclusion it deserved 30 years ago. It had nothing to do with me not enjoying the movie, as I did, I just didn’t get to the sequel for some crazy reason (even crazier knowing that it was viewed as one of the best sequels ever made.) So before going in to The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone I decided to jump right back to the beginning and finally watch the entire trilogy the way Francis Ford Coppola meant it to be seen. Well, I’d seen the first one about 10-15 years ago, but for some reason I stopped there. Okay, so we all have those classic, heavily talked about, must-see movies that we just, well, haven’t seen.