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Critic Reviews
"In its new form, The Godfather Coda is still not a masterpiece. But it’s a fine film and worthy conclusion, and its alterations – the repositioning of several scenes, the cutting of others, and a new opening closing –genuinely improve the final product. "
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"The Godfather Coda does seem different, thanks largely to how he opens and closes the film. Overall, this version feels even more elegiac—a true coda instead of just another part of the same story."
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"Coppola intended the third film to be an epilogue that serves to sum up and bring closure to the original saga, and this recut to breathe new life into the picture. He has achieved just that."
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"Anyone looking to have their mind changed by this new cut … probably won’t. Anyone who hates The Godfather Part III is still going to hate The Godfather Part III, and anyone who loves The Godfather Part III will probably love it even more after seeing the coda. Alas, it’s still The Godfather Part III and that’s just fine with me."
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"What Coppola accomplishes is less a magic act than an elegant threading of a needle."
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"If you’ve seen The Godfather Part III, you’ve essentially seen The Godfather, Coda. Those expecting something drastic, like Coppola’s Apocalypse Now: Redux, are going to be disappointed. Instead, the filmmaker has made little cuts here and there. Cuts that indeed make the lengthy film and its sprawling narratives a bit more concise – it’s eleven minutes shorter than the theatrical cut. And while that may make for a (slightly) brisker experience, it can’t fix all the problems that are irreconcilably baked into the film’s DNA."
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"Redemption may have eluded Michael Corleone, but his third film was more fortunate."
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"The current results don’t necessarily redeem this troubled film, but seeing it again might remind audiences that it’s better than they remember. Certainly, this time out, it’s better than it’s ever been before."
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"Thanks to some skillful, nuanced editing – and the forgiveness of time that comes with three decades – Coppola’s experiment is an offer you (sorry) can’t refuse. Mostly."
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"Without breaking the two down shot for shot, Coppola's editing feels as if it accentuates ties to the earlier films. Yet there's only so much that can be done by rearranging pieces, and it's not the sort of significant makeover associated with celebrated "director's cuts," a la "Blade Runner" or "Brazil.""
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"Francis Ford Coppola has tightened up and retweaked his final Godfather film, but the original's inherent flaws remain."
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"With Tom Hagen and a different Mary, The Godfather Coda could actually rise to the level of the first two Godfather movies. Without them, it’s still a fairly good sequel, a sad story about guilt, with an endless supply of memorably dialogue from Coppola and Mario Puzo (“The higher I go, the crookeder it becomes.”) and an underrated Al Pacino performance."
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"The tweaks are interesting, even if they can’t do anything about larger narrative frustrations."
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"I’m not sure how much, if anything, Coppola’s re-edit does for the third Godfather film, but it’s worth a watch."
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