Brian De palma's finest hour

Rating: 10/10 (15 October 2008)

Brian De palma can be proud to call this masterpiece his best work. De palma and Pacino combine brilliantly to create a character that you love to hate and hate to love. Tony Montana is dark, sinister and completely obsessed with power and yet he has morals and values that he holds above all. the combination of his deep, captivating and contradictory character eventually lead to his downfall. De palma however does so much more with this film than just a character profile. his portrayal of Tony's rapid rise to the top of Miami's drug empire and his eventual downfall is excellent. Tony's fight to the top is filled with death and betrayal as well as some brutal set pieces. his drive to be boss is a double edged sword as it is both his desire to be more than just another working slack and his insatiable greed that fuel him. his brutal rise is complemented smoothly by the emptiness De palma portrays when Tony is at the top. everything in his life is false from his backhanded bank to the bodyguards who just need a job to his wife who was married to the boss Tony murdered. Everything around Tony Montana is a fake and causes him to drive away his family and succumb to extreme paranoia. all of this truly comes out thanks to a brilliant performance by Al pacino. However what turns this film into a classic is the way in which it portrays the dark side of the American dream although on an extreme premise. Tony is no different from many people who wish to be more than a dish washer or a cleaner but cannot realise that money will jot bring happiness. his greed and power-lust cause his alienation from his family and spark a chain of events that leads to his death. this film has brilliant direction, some brutal and exciting action scenes as well as a good script that has deep powerful themes and a stand out performance from Pacino to pull all these elements together into one of the most memorable characters in film history. a masterpiece and a must watch. 10/10