The pure, undeniable strength of The Godfather Part III is its acting and its characters. You have guaranteed winners like Al Pacino, playing the older, wiser Michael Corleone, alternatively compassionate and ruthless - he feels overwhelming guilt for his crimes, but yet commands an unshakeable grip on his family's actions and  future. Diane Keaton returns as Kay, the perfect foil for Pacino's modern day cross between Macbeth and Hamlet. Keaton matches Pacino scene for scene, and seeing those two work off each other more than makes up for a teetering plot (and Sophia Coppola's acting).

Of the new characters, Andy Garcia impresses as Michael's nephew Vincent, an amalgamation of the Corleone men to have come before him - Fredo's sensitivity, Vito's cunning, Sonny's temper, and Michael's mercilessness, rolled into slicked back hair and a leather jacket. Garcia carries it well, humble and respectful to his uncle and spiritual father, and cold-blooded and unforgiving to those who wrong him. Vincent is the kind of guy who would shoot you in the back and find the blood splatters amusing.

If that's the next generation of Corleones, then we're all in trouble.

And of the new characters, Sofia Coppola does not impress as Mary Corleone. Perhaps her age and acting inexperience contribute to her wooden and dull performance - against such heavyweights as Pacino and Keaton, and Garcia's passionate Italianisms, Coppola comes off as particularly uninspired. It's one of the (few) weak points in this movie, and fortunately, Mrs. Coppola's career has not suffered for it - but when Keaton and Pacino bring the house down, and when the intricate and layered plot threatens to snap our attention, Coppola is one distraction we don't need.

The Godfather Part I stands as one of the greatest films ever made. Its sequel holds the unique distinction of being regarded as on par with, or even surpassing, its predecessor's status. If a third movie was honored and unfortunate enough to continue the story of the Corleones - or, more specifically, to conclude the story of Michael Corleoene - then The Godfather Part III did the best job it could. It wasn't perfect (for that matter, neither was Part II), but at its heart, it did what it set out to do: showed us the end of Michael Corleone's body and his soul. With it, the last Godfather story is told.