This was something I had mulled over shortly after I viewed GF3, but I kept forgetting to start a topic about it. Now I've remembered, and I have some extra computer time, so here goes:

As GF3 begins, it's obvious that Michael still has ties to the crime world. He is trying (or so he claims) to legitimize it and/or divest himself of the more unsavory elements. But this is 20 years after GF2 ended. Considering the soul-searching and regret -- and even trauma -- encapsulated in that final image of Michael alone at the conclusion of GF2, I for one expected that he would have started his legalization endeavour much sooner, perhaps no more than a couple of years after Fredo's death: a project of atonement that he had to undertake to regain his humanity.

I can see some remnants of the underworld sticking to Michael, but I was soundly disappointed that he was in as deep as he was in GF3; I wanted him to be largely out. How did a haunted Michael even sustain the ambition to wheel and deal with Vatican bigwigs during GF3? To me, it negated the resonance of the conclusion of GF2 to see Michael doing business as usual.

I'm not saying that there should be no mafia and no crime in GF3. Goodness, this is The Godfather: it needs the tension, danger, conflicted interests, and personal repercussions that are the wages of organized crime. But where I think the focus should have been is on Michael's past coming back to haunt him: perhaps an angry Vincent Mancini (or another of Sonny's boys) resentful of the loss of his father's legacy; perhaps a blackmail threat; perhaps a threat to his children from a former disgruntled associate. I can see the tension arising from Michael, out of desperation, reluctantly seeking protection from the very forces he swore off, like a latter-day Bonasera, the trilogy coming full circle.

Michael being dragged "back in" to the underworld in GF3 rings false because he's never really out. Who is "forcing" him "back in" with such urgency that he seemingly has no choice in the matter? Where is the tension from conflicting loyalties? He goes willingly; whatever internal struggle there is supposed to be is not supported by the narrative; it's a façade of struggle. That's the problem, IMO: business as usual, as though GF2 were nothing more than a bad dream.