One of the best films of the nineties

Rating: Null/10 (30 November 2003)

Hollywood film with a depth is not something that we can see every day. All is here, in this Michael Mann's brilliant epic film, gangsters, drama and romance, but nothing is pathetic or shallow. There is some somber, elegiac feeling throughout the film, intensified by great use of music, that future offers no hope for the main characters, neither for gangsters nor for the policeman (Vincent Hanna brilliantly played by Pacino), regardless of their plans or actions. Their destiny is sealed and they can do nothing about it. That is the same destiny that forces Carlito towards death in De Palma's "Carlito's Way" or Peckinpah's heroes towards suicidal bloodbath in "The Wild Bunch". As if the bare fact that they do possess some code of honour (they help each other during the relentless shoot-out on the streets, De Niro risks his potential happiness in order to revenge for treason) makes them more vulnerable and unadapted to living in a modern world, and pushes them towards the inevitable bitter end. Loneliness is the key word here. " I am alone, but not lonely " says De Niro in one scene, but we know that is not the truth, and he knows that too. Action scenes are perfectly made (especially the one after failed bank robbery), sound is crisp, use of music imaginative and photography (Dante Spinotti) brilliant. Sorry, no happy endings here, no special digital effects. Some lovers of pure entertainment might be disappointed, and think that film is a bit overlong, that it lacks action and is too dark. Well, this film certainly is not Hollywood mainstream production, nor it pretends to be a crowd-pleaser. This is one of the best films of the nineties.