Instead of dragging its feet, “The Godfather Coda” opens with Corleone doing business to legitimize his family and reputation. Gone is the wishy-washy opening segment of the film that connects it more directly to “ The Godfather, Part II,” as this new version opens in Italy with Michael Corleone ( Al Pacino) meeting with Archbishop Gilday ( Donal Donnelly) to discuss his contribution of $600 million to the Vatican, followed immediately by the after-party.

The biggest change that Coppola makes is to get right to the heart of the story, and it's a drastic improvement. Overall, this version feels even more elegiac-a true coda instead of just another part of the same story. In this interesting endeavor, he hasn’t radically altered the bulk of the film in a way that feels designed to appease critics-his daughter’s performance hasn’t been cut, for example-and yet “The Godfather Coda” does seem different, thanks largely to how he opens and closes the film. The director has a long history of recutting his work with alternate editions of films like with “ Apocalypse Now: Final Cut” and “ The Cotton Club Encore”.

The legacy of “ The Godfather, Part III” has largely been reduced to two statements: “It’s not as good as the first two” & “ Sofia Coppola isn’t good in it.” Neither of these declarations are false, but they turn what was always at least a solid film into a footnote, something director Francis Ford Coppola seeks to correct with this month’s “The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone,” a new version of the 1990 film that’s being released in theaters today and on Blu-ray and VOD on December 8 th.

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