Parts I and II were long, but brilliant. Part III, alas, is just long and mighty slow.

Directorial flair and acting charisma are notably absent from this final chapter, which deals more or less with a single episode in the later life of Michael Corleone (still Al Pacino).

His bastard nephew (Andy Garcia) falls in love with Michael's daughter (Sofia Coppola) and, wanting out of his association with gangster Joey Zaza (Joe Bologna), sets in motion a chain of events which drags Michael back down from semi-respectability into high-profile gang wars and even the assassination of the Pope.

Pacino, looking like a sawn-off Stallone, also sports a Brando hoarseness (presumably on purpose) which detracts from the magnetism of the performance.

Talia Shire is the personification of evil as Pacino's sister, but Diane Keaton now seems out of place as his wife.

There's no dynamism in Coppola's direction and the story shuffles along like a Sicilian peasant leading a donkey.

After nearly three hours, you echo Pacino's lament when he asks 'Where the hell does it end? '