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DVD Scarface (Widescreen Anniversary Edition)
This sprawling epic of bloodshed and excess, Brian De Palma's update of the classic 1932 crime drama by Howard Hawks, sparked controversy over its outrageous violence when released in 1983. Scarface is a wretched, fascinating car wreck of a movie, starring Al Pacino as a Cuban refugee who rises to the top of Miami's cocaine-driven underworld, only to fall hard into his own deadly trap of addiction and inevitable assassination. Scripted by Oliver Stone and running nearly three hours, it's the kind of film that can simultaneously disgust and amaze you (critic Pauline Kael wrote "this may be the only action picture that turns into an allegory of impotence"), with vivid supporting roles for Steven Bauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Robert Loggia. Universal's special edition digital video disc includes a documentary about the making of the film that features numerous interviews and several deleted scenes. --Jeff Shannon
Review(s): DVD Scarface (Widescreen Anniversary Edition)
Ground breaking movie
Just a short and simple comment.
All good films push the line and threaten us just a bit. Scarface did this in 1983 and clearly still does that today in 2005. I was only 5 years old when this movie came out, but as I grew older and saw it, I loved it. It shows you that no matter how big and ballsy you are, there's always a ceiling you'd better keep an eye out for.
And in closing, a simple FYI:
Scarface inspired GTA...the game is based (loosely on the premise) of the movie, not the other way around.... *insert eye roll here* ; )
The world was yours......till you died.
Fantastic movie, Ben Affleck as Tony Montana was outstanding. And a young Geraldo as his sisters boyfriend, brilliant. Why do they snort so much coke, don't get it? Everytime I do, I end up with a bloody nose. Only wish they used the f-word more then 5 times, come on, this is a drug cartell film. Robert De Niro played a convincing lion on the Montana estate, he was overlooked by the Oscars. Love the chainsaw part, but it was too stale. I wanna see head, limbs, scrotum flying, come on De Palma, screw the mpaa.
This movie is overrated, mang!
I've seen Scarface a couple of times and I think it's alright, but I don't understand what is GREAT about it. It's overdone and glamorizes the whole "gangster" way of life. I see how it's become a symbol for the "gangster" lifestyle and most kids say they love it because they want to fit into that image of hardcore, rap music, badass rebel blah blah blah. The character is well-developed, but his accent is absolutely hideous. There's a lot of meaningless drama and harsh imagery as well. I would just like someone to explain what is revolutionary or original or amazing about this piece of work. Instead of just saying it's cool or using other useless adjectives, please explain (in real terms) why this movie is outstanding.
If you would like to see Pacino at his best, see movies such as Serpico or the Godfather. The story is simple and made me feel stupid after watching. Basically the plot of the movie is this: guys die, Pacino screams his lines, tons of drugs are done and Pacino kills his enemies.
The film's plot is absurd: Al Pacino goes from being a homeless political refugee with no connections to being a filthy rich drug czar in... LESS THAN ONE YEAR! It's hard to tell exactly how long it takes, because the film jumps haphazardly forward in time, making the timeline very difficult to determine, follow, or understand.
The characters and acting are inconsistent: one second Pacino is a cunning, dangerous, ambitious, and even intelligent criminal, while the next second he appears to be a mentally retarded person (this is not explained away by the drug use that goes on). It's downhill from there with regard to the other characters, who are given practically nothing to work with in terms of development.
The violence is absurd and inconsistent: Does the idea of a small army (seemingly innumerable) of guerilla warriors swinging in on ropes and attacking Pacino's Miami mansion, sound reasonable to you? How about Pacino then killing 20-30 of them single handedly with his "big gun"? That formidable paramilitary force of Bolivian enforcers portrayed in the movie, btw, had only about 12 hours notice to prepare for their assault and travel to Miami (according to the convoluted plot of the film). The same cartel that could mobilize these hundreds of para-military enforcers in less than twelve hours, was earlier forced to enlist the help of Pacino and his six man gang of (seemingly) retarded people to help them carry out a single small-time assassination in the USA.
The film's portrayal of drug addiction is ridiculous and inane. Michelle Pfeiffer lays out the fattest strings of coke that I have ever seen portrayed on a film, and vacuums them down in one quick snort. At other times she just keeps snorting coke continually for what seems like minutes... "sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff," ... and it goes on like that. Later in the film, Pacino shoves his head into a gallon sized pile of coke and snorts for all he is worth.
There are so many bad things about this movie, that I think an "etc" will suffice to end this section of my "rant".
It does have some scenes that are nice if they are isolated from the rest of the movie, and all the mediocrity and and inconsistency in every aspect of the film (characters, plot, music, cinematography, etc.) blends together into a sometimes compelling whole.
I was so excited about seeing Brian De Palma's "Scarface" just because everybody I know who saw it said it was a great movie. My brother said it was great. My friends at school said it was great. I had high expectations just because the front cover of Al Pacino holding the gun in a white suit looked so menacing and defiant. And as I watched this slow, boring, hugely flawed three hour catastrophe, all hope was lost.
Throughout the movie, Tony keeps wondering why everybody betrays him. Well, it's pretty obvious...he's nothing more than a hot-tempered fool who constantly makes stupid decisions and somehow becomes Miami's cocaine king.
The use of the synthesizer as a musical score is very lame. The supporting performances by Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer, and Mary Elizabeth Monstrantonio serve no purpose; they're not allowed to breathe life into their roles. They just sit there like the cardboard characters they are so the plot can drag on.
The bloody confrontation scenes are predictable and disappointing. Overall, this is a very overrated film. Although there are a couple of one-liners that made me laugh, it's not enough to redeem it. The music is God-awful, the acting is sub par (Pacino's accent is so fake and annoys the HELL out of me), and the story is poorly constructed. If you want to see a great gangster epic, watch Martin Scorsese's "Goodfellas", "The Untouchables" (also directed by Brian De Palma), or the first two "Godfather" movies (directed by Francis Ford Coppola).
"Scarface" is one of the most overly hyped films ever.
Related DVD's Scarface (Widescreen Anniversary Edition)
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